AirVenture 2009 - Museum

I had some time to kill Sunday afternoon, and AirVenture hadn't officially started yet, so I walked over and checked out the Museum which I hadn't been to in awhile.  It hasn't changed much, but it was the first time I took pictures in the Museum with my Digital Rebel.

I've always liked the 1903 Wright Flier exhibit in the EAA Museum.   

 
 
The Wright Flier looks good on the sand. 
 
1912 Curtiss Pusher.  This particular plane flew for three years, then was stored in a barn from 1915 to 1940.  It was gradually restored over a period of 26 years and finally flew in 1966 when it was the oldest licensed plane flying in the United States.  
 
A Spirit of St. Louis replica.  I've never seen one actually fly -- maybe someday. 
 
The plane that started it all: Van's first RV-3.  37 years later, over 6000 RVs have been built and flown.
 
Awesome model of the World War II aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. 
 
ME-109 fuselage. 
 
Very small cockpit with horrible visibility. 
 
What I liked about this exhibit is how close you could get to see everything. 
 
The famous SpaceShip One.  An entire corner of the museum is dedicated to Burt Rutan and his achievements. 
 
The real Voyager is in the National Air and Space museu but the EAA Museum has a duplicate of the fuseage.  It's unbelievably small.  Hard to imagine two people living in such a small space for ten days. 
 
One of my favorites:  a Fokker DR-1 Triplane replica. 
 
 The museum has an informative exhibit for each type of homebuilding:  wood, metal, steel tube, fabric and composite.  They also have a sample builder's workshop with all the appropriate tools and machines. 
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