Significant and Rare items in the Spirit of Flight Collection

Just a few of the items from our growing collection are listed below. Items from on display in the Gallery are rotated out on a regular basis. Some of our aircraft are presently undergoing restoration.

  • Cessna L-19 Bird Dog- The Prototype aircraft built in 1949.
  • Lockheed 12A Electra, Jr.- Built in 1936, and was one of Conoco’s first aircraft. Later owned by Charles Babb, who signed Amelia Earhart’s first pilot’s license.
  • Mercury BT-120- Built in 1941. The only one to exist in the world.  Only three were ever built.
  • Art Chester Swee’ Pea (later renamed Sky Baby)- Air Racer built in 1947.  Only one to exist in the world.
  • Messerschmitt BF-109F- Built in 1942, one of only a few Friedrich (F) models in the world.  Recovered in Russia in the early 1990s.
  • BD-5J- World’s smallest jet aircraft painted in James Bond “Octopussy” movie scheme.
  • Radioplane Shelduk Target Drone- One of only a few of the 73,000 that were built and still exist.
  • Mark 1 Target Kites- WWII kites built by Spalding, were used for surface to ground target gunnery practice
  • Berry Motor Car Company Aircraft Tug- Built in 1943, the only known example in the world as the company went bankrupt during WWII.
  • Amelia Earhart Bronze Statue- Full size bronze statue is one of only three that exist in the world.  The other two are in Atchinson, Kansas (Amelia’s birth home).
  • GE-1A Jet Engine- A cutaway of the first American jet engine design from 1942, based on the Frank Whittle engine design.
  • Fairchild K-19B Night Photo Camera- WWII aerial camera used on the B-24 Liberator.
  • Westinghouse J-30 Turbojet Engine- Built in 1947, this engine was Americas first axial flow jet engine used on the McDonnell FH Phantom jet.
  • Norden Bomb Sight- From 1943, this stabilized automatic bomb site was used on many US and British WWII bombers and was considered highly Top Secret.
  • Mighty Mouse 2.75 Folding Fin Rocket- Primary NATO armament from the 1950s.
  • Curtiss-Wright Electric Propeller- Fully restored propeller from a WWII B-26 Marauder.
  • Congressional Gold Medal- Presented to the Women Airforce Service Pilots in March, 2010.
  • Toby Jug- Made famous from the movie Twelve O’Clock High.
  • Ranger V32 APU Engine- For starting the WWII B-29 Superfortress.
  • Collins R-390A Radio- Built in 1954, one of over 6000 that were built, but few exist.  This was considered highly Top Secret during the Cold War.
  • Mark 44 Torpedo- Air launched torpedo built in the early 1960s.
Spirit-of-Flight-Collection