Auroraadvocate.com - Kaleidoscope: Great place to view warbirds is not far

by Ken Lahmers

Editor

Birdwatchers take note!

There's a place not far from Aurora where you can go to see some very big birds, but they aren't of the "fine feathered friend" variety.

These are metal birds piloted by human beings, some of which can carry a handful of crew members.

Many of these old aeronautical wonders served during wars in which the United States fought.

The place I'm talking about is the MAPS (Military Aviation Preservation Society) museum, just off Route 241 on the western edge of the Akron Canton Airport in Stark County.

I found the day of the Greenmen girls' recent sectional tournament basketball game at Lake High School near Hartville a perfect time to slip over to the site.

MAPS is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about the history of military aviation.

It has acquired, restored, preserved and exhibited many military aircraft and related artifacts at its large hangar, which once was used for maintenance by the Ohio Air National Guard.

Aurora resident Dave Bell is a volunteer for the group. He manned a MAPS booth at the Aurora Business Expo on March 13.

The museum, which is observing its 20th anniversary, has acquired a nifty collection of aircraft from private individuals and government sources.

Some of the planes have come from the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton and the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

Some of the privately-owned crafts are airworthy.

Tours of the facility can last two hours, and visitors are given a wealth of information by the society's very knowledgeable volunteer docents.

Although the actual big birds are the stars of the tour, the museum also has a room with mannequins wearing USAF Thunderbird uniforms, model planes, and exhibits relating to the Tuskegee Airmen, USS Arizona, WASPs and WW I and II aviators.

One of the recently added displays in is a collection of World War II memorabilia once owned by B-26 bomb crewman Reamer "Buzz" Sewell.

Included are diaries, scrapbooks containing photos, letters and many rare prisoner of war items.

Some of the big birds

More than 20 vintage planes and a couple of helicopters grace the hanger, and others are outside being restored for eventual display.

There are so many neat craft that it would be tough for me to pick a favorite.

The oldest is the Martin Glider, built in 1908 by Canton native William H. Martin. It was one of the first aeronautical mono-wing designs.

Its first flight was Jan. 12, 1909, during which it flew about 20 feet off the ground at a speed of 20 mph. Martin's wife was its first pilot.

It made more than 100 successful flights, many times being powered by either Billy the horse or a donated Ford automobile.

A Sopwith Triplane (three wings), patterned after the original 1916 version, is on loan to the museum from builder/Akron pilot Bill Woodall. It's said to be one of only six originals/replicas left in the world.

Because of a number of weaknesses, the triplanes gave way in 1917 to Sopwith Camels, which were sturdier and better armed.

Among some real "muscle" planes at the museum are an F-14B Tomcat, F-11F Tiger, F-4S Phantom, A-7E Corsair II and a Russian Mig-17 Fresco.

The F-11F was flown mostly by the Blue Angels flight demonstration team from 1957 to 1969.

Some other models on display are the S-2F Tracker, an anti-submarine warfare plane first flown in 1952; the T-28S Trojan and T-6 Texan; and a handful of observation/training models.

The museum's two copters are the AH-1G Cobra, which saw combat duty in the late 1960s in Vietnam and the OH-58 Kiowa observer.

MAPS is in the process of restoring a B-26 Marauder medium-range bomber used in WW II. It crash-landed in British Columbia, Canada, in 1942. Volunteers hope to get it airborne again.

Although not a military aircraft, one museum item commands much attention -- the gondola of Goodyear's Spirit of America blimp which crashed near the Wingfoot Lake hanger in southern Portage County in 1999.

Visitors are allowed to step inside the gondola, which was one of the few Goodyear crafts which sported eight passenger seats. The blimp's engines also are there.

Several special events are coming up at the MAPS museum, including a pancake breakfast April 25, a cruise-in June 13 and 20th anniversary activities July 3-4.

Other plane museums

Ohio boasts a couple of other aviation museums, the most famous of which is the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton.

It welcomes more than one million visitors a year and is nationally renowned. My parents and I visited it a couple of times when I was younger, but the last time was more than 30 years ago.

It has galleries devoted to the early years of flying, air power, modern flight, the Cold War, missiles/space and presidential/research/development, as well as an IMAX Theater.

A little known attraction at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland is the International Women's Air & Space Museum. From April 24 to Jan. 2, 2011, a temporary exhibit will tout the achievements of Ohio women in air and space.

Massillon museums

Not far from MAPS down Route 241 in Massillon are a couple of neat museums I visited recently, one of which also deals with the military.

The Ohio Military Museum, operated by the Ohio Society of Military History, is the only state non-profit military museum owned and operated for the veterans of Ohio.

Founded in 1983, the Ohio Society of Military History recently expanded.

It features a Hall f Honor dedicated to Ohio recipients of the Medal of Honor, display cases depicting each war period, climate controlled storage for artifacts and a research library.

Items from 12 men from Ohio who earned the Medal of Honor are displayed, as are many military uniforms and weapons from various eras.

It was the second military museum I visited since the first of the year. The other, which I wrote about previously, was the War Vet Museum in Canfield.

Just a couple blocks from the Ohio Military Museum is the Massillon Museum.

It offers changing exhibitions on the main floor -- sometimes art, sometimes history. The second floor features a spectrum of rotating exhibits, including photos, sports and industry, and the lower level features solo/group art shows.

Volunteers are cleaning and conserving the Immel Circus, a 100-square-foot miniature replica of a complete circus. I really wanted to see it, but it's closed until mid-May.

Through April 11, modern and 1940s era art by Nelly Toll is featured. She lived in Poland as a child during World War II and painted scenes of the horrors of war.

Through April 4, the second annual competition for sculptures built entirely of canned goods, called "Canstruction," is on display.

E-mail:

klahmers@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155