Walt House: Aviation museum alive and well, fun to visit

As a longtime volunteer and board member for the Kansas Aviation Museum and Wichita Aeronautical Historical Association, I would like to thank The Eagle for the recent article bringing the temporary budget plight of the museum to public attention (“Air museum board discussed bankruptcy, selling artifacts,” Feb. 25 Eagle).

With this week’s special spring break hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 14-20), we are looking forward to an increased attendance. But I felt like I had been hit in the gut with the article “Having fun with the grandkids in Wichita” (March 10 Insight). It listed all of the parks, art venues, zoos and museums in the area except the Kansas Aviation Museum.

KAM is still alive and not totally broke.

The Kansas Aviation Museum has about 40 regular volunteers. Each week they work in the archive, build or upgrade and clean the many historical displays. About 30 volunteers are devoted to the restoration of the many historical aircraft that we have in storage.

We try to keep three aircraft in the shop at any one time, depending on shop space and dedicated funds. They are nearing completion of the only 1930 Watkins Skylark in existence (of five produced). A public opening of the Watkins display is coming soon.

Also in work is a 1944 Beech D17S “Staggerwing,” originally owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., and a 1929 Stearman C-3B originally owned by a New York stockbroker, J. Roy Prosser. He kept the classy sport plane at the exclusive Long Island Aviation Country Club.

Besides KAM’s temporary debt to the city of Wichita, the one thing that keeps the museum from being world class is the lack of an aircraft display hangar. KAM has a need for 25,000 to 30,000 square feet of floor space.

There are about 15 aircraft that with cleanup, minor restoration or paint would be ready for display. Another five or six that are outdoors on the ramp should be inside. Initial estimates for the hangar total $500,000 to $600,000.

Come on out to the Kansas Aviation Museum, Grandpa and the kids. KAM is a lot of fun.

Also, if you are retired and bored, come on out to the KAM shop and enjoy restoring these fine old examples of “Wichita, the Air Capital.” We have fun and tell a lot of stories (and some of them are even true).

The Kansas Aviation Museum is alive and well.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Walt House: Aviation museum alive and well, fun to visit."