Florida Air Museum

Florida Air Museum
Location within Florida
Established 1986
Location Lakeland, Florida
Coordinates 27°58′55″N 82°01′46″W / 27.981955°N 82.029467°W / 27.981955; -82.029467
Type Aviation attraction
Collection size over 100 aircraft
Director Robb Williams
President J.R. "Lites" Leenhouts
Website Official Website

The Florida Air Museum is designated as Florida’s “Official Aviation Museum and Education Center.”[1] It features a display of aircraft including one-of-a-kind designs, classics, ultra-lights, antiques and warbirds.

Facility

The museum is housed in a main building and a hangar annex. Both are located on the campus of the Sun 'n Fun fly-in and expo, which supplies much of the funding for the museum's collections and programs. The entire campus is located at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, just south of the runways.

The main building holds much of the collection, especially smaller aircraft like a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 from the classic Red Baron Pizza aerobatic team. A wide variety of unique designs, homebuilts, and even a Mercury rocket motor share the display floor. The aircraft are supplemented by a collection of engines from World War I to the present day. It also houses a library, offices, a conference room and the museum's small gift shop. The hangar annex houses larger aircraft and engines.

Also on Campus is the Buehler Restoration Center. This 8,000 square–foot facility, located adjacent to the Florida Air Museum at SUN ‘n FUN, houses SUN 'n FUN’s year–round aircraft restoration activities. The facility, which opened in April 2006, was made possible by a $300,000 grant from The Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust, with additional support from a State of Florida Cultural Facilities and Historical Grant.

Collection

The museum's collection includes some unique and notable aircraft, including many homebuilt aircraft:[2]

One of the famous Red Baron Pizza aerobatic team's Stearmans on display.
One of the famous Red Baron Pizza aerobatic team's Stearmans on display.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Museum - SUN 'n FUN". sun-n-fun.org. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "Sun n' Fun » Restoration Projects". Sun-n-fun.org. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
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