Aviation Museum of Kentucky lets history take wing
The Sellers Quadraplane — a replica of the four-winged airplane built by Kentuckian Matthew Sellers in 1908 — may seem to have little in common with AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter used in Vietnam or an F-14 Tomcat fighter interceptor that ran combat mission in Iraq in 2005.
But the three aircraft are part of a special family of planes, old and modern, that share the spotlight at the Aviation Museum of Kentucky next to Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.
The museum, which opened its doors to the public in 1995, provides an interesting tour through the history of aviation, with a focus on aviation in Kentucky. It's home to the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame.
Among the dozens of exhibits on display are the Wright Flyer 1, a quarter-scale model of the plane built by the Wright brothers; a 1929 Crosley "Moonbeam," one of just five of the aircraft ever built by Cincinnati industrialist Paul Crosley; a Piper L4 "Grasshopper" used in World War II, principally to direct artillery fire against military target; a blue-and-gold Blue Angels A4 Skyhawk, the primary Navy carrier attack aircraft in the Vietnam War; a Nimbus II Sailplane, a type of glider that twice won the Open Class in the World Gliding Championships; scale models of NASA's Lunar Lander; and the RF-101 Voodoo, the world's first supersonic photo-reconnaissance plane.
There are exhibits devoted to Women in Aviation, the Kentucky natives who were members of the African-American Tuskegee Airmen and other Kentucky aviators of note.
The museum also offers guided and self-guided tours, group tours, rental space for special events and Aviation Camp for students ages 10–15. Kids have the opportunity to sit in and take the controls of some of the museum's planes and flight simulators.
Admission is $7 for ages 17–59, $5 for ages 60 and up, $4 for kids 6–16 and free for children through age 5.
- by Ivonne Rovira, Lexington Reporter for HelloMetro
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