Metro St. Louis Aviation Museum Displays Area Treasures

Aviation museums are special places. They preserve and display artifacts, those priceless pieces of aviation history that take us back in time to when the airplane was just a carnival curiosity. Some museums are large, faceless places that expect the visitor to read his way through what should have been an interactive experience. On the other end of the spectrum is the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum, a place where even the building is historic, and where the single visitor is given a personal tour by a knowledgeable volunteer. This museum deserves a visit by anyone claiming to be an aviation enthusiast, much less an historian.

The Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum is located at St. Louis Downtown Airport, which is actually in Cahokia, IL, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. The airport, originally opened in 1929 as the Curtiss-Steinberg Airport, was founded in part by the Curtiss-Wright Company. The museum was welcomed by the airport after the original location at Spirit Airport in the Chesterfield Valley was virtually wiped out by the great flood of 1993. The move to Cahokia added considerably to the historical atmosphere of the museum, as will soon become evident.

The museum is principally housed in one of the 1928 Curtiss-Wright hangars, both of which were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. The C-W logos are still visible on the outside of the buildings. The inside display area is a bit more modern, containing various works of art, aircraft models, instruments, propellers, flight helmets and other memorabilia. Special displays also include:

TWA and Ozark Airlines memorabilia case and extensive research library

Kinner 5-Cylinder Engine cutaway display rig and F-2H Banshee jet engine

Collection of space suits, medical devices and memorabilia donated by Rose Church, "Flight Nurse to the Astronauts"

Flyable and display aircraft, such as 1941 Meyers O.T.W. bi-plane, Mini-Max, Jenny scaled-down replica, 1963 "Austria Standard" sailplane and a Lockheed Jetstar, once owned by Howard Hughes

Artifacts from the recently completed "Flight City" exhibit at the Missouri History Museum

The best part of the museum, though, is the "atmosphere." Yes, there are fly-ins, Young Eagle flights, group tours, and even the local EAA Chapter 64 meetings. But when you are the only visitor, you will receive the special "behind the scenes" tour. Your volunteer leader will have significant experience in the aviation industry (probably related to McDonnell Douglas), and will personally describe the items in every exhibit and lead you through the aircraft portion of the hangar. For a while, you will experience aviation history, not just observe it.

Please visit the museum's home page to get a glimpse of this Midwestern gem, and plan your visit, and become a member:

http://www.airandspacemuseum.org/

Also, be sure to contact the very active EAA Chapter 64, which meets there on the first Tuesday of the month.

http://webpages.charter.net/dusterpilot/eaa.htm