Best Aviation Museum Exhibits

[Noha307]

Here is my photo of the Phantom II exhibit on the 'carrier deck'
XT596 by aerovet1954, on Flickr[/url]

Ooh, that is really cool use of light! Thanks for sharing the picture!

As mentioned in a post in the Link trainer thread, there was a neat case of a Link trainer covered with transparent "plasti-glass" by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the late 1940s as a maintenance trainer:

(Source: Flying Safety via Air Force Safety Center via Warbird Information Exchange)

Between the above and the system boards mentioned in a previous post, I'm realizing how the military/manufacturers did much of the work for us by creating exhibits to train servicemen/workers when the equipment was still in service. The need to explain the inner workings of systems was in many ways no different from the way they are used today. As a matter of fact, the National Naval Aviation Museum has a see-through model of USS Kearsarge (CV-33) that was built by the Puget Sound Navy Yard in 1945:

(Source: National Naval Aviation Museum)

On a different note, one of the problems I run into at our museum is the fact that it is very difficult to place displays anywhere in our hangar except along the walls because they would block the planes moving in and out of the hangar. The pedestal signs that sit next to the aircraft are the only displays that do this and it is a hassle to have to pick them up and carry them around. One solution is to put the displays on wheels, but that just creates new problems. First, it is important that the displays also be able to not move when necessary. Otherwise, we run the risk of a visitor bumping into or leaning on one and accidentally pushing it into an airplane. The way to avoid this is to use casters with built-in, foot-operated brakes. However, then the issue becomes designing a method that both allows access to the brake while also being relatively unobtrusive. The Lone Star Flight Museum has a set of stands developed by Pacific Studio that have a cut out as a compromise:

(Source: Groupon)

As mentioned in a post in the blueprints, concept art, and renderings thread, the National WWII WASP Museum went a similar, but different, route and are in the process of having "freestanding fixtures" built that have outriggers - similar to the type seen on crane trucks - that fold out and lift the entire stand off the ground:

(Source: Dropbox)

I reached out to their designer, D|G Studios, and they suggested using Adjustable Height Floor Locks for our museum's needs.

[Noha307]

One of the renderings for the new World War II gallery at the National Air and Space Museum has a unique idea. It shows a drop tank suspended separately from their P-51 - as if it had just been jettisoned (ignore the fact that the pylon is still attached):

(Source: National Air and Space Museum)

Has that been tried anywhere else? Say, with a missile as if it had just been launched? The USS Midway Museum could even hang a toilet below their Skyraider.

[sandiego89]

One of the renderings for the new World War II gallery at the National Air and Space Museum has a unique idea. It shows a drop tank suspended separately from their P-51 - as if it had just been jettisoned (ignore the fact that the pylon is still attached):
.....

Thanks for sharing, Looks like the Main Mall museum will be reopened on October 12, 2022. Looking forward to seeing what they have done. I prefer UH, but some real treasures downtown, and it will be neat to see how they have re-imagined the place, some old favorites, and some new exhibits. The refresh has been a long time coming.

[Noha307]

I was very impressed with dynamic nature of the (relatively) new PBY exhibit at the Pima Air and Space Museum. It is difficult to see in the pic but the aircrew is included, fully attired in proper dress.

While it's not quite as dynamic, the EAA Aviation Museum has a walk-in S-38 mock up similarly complete with fake water. It apparently even used to show a first person flight video in the cockpit. The Cradle of Aviation Museum also has a nice fake pier-side experience with their Grumman Goose.

Speaking of Pima, when I was there in 2018 they had a really cool case showing the Japanese submarine I-52 being chased by a torpedo. The creative part was how they managed to suspend the torpedo from the side of the case while also hiding the wire with the wake:

They also had a case with Lindsey Goss's oil stained t-shirt in it. I thought it was a nice way to showcase the less glamourous, dirty side of aviation:

[Noha307]

A few more I recently came across:

• The Flieger Flab Museum in Switzerland has just the wooden portion of a Vampire fuselage nacelle on display: Image (Source)
• While they're not the only museum to do so, the timeline of aircraft at the WACO Air Museum is different in that the alternating stripes representing the time periods are painted directly on the wall: Image (Source)
• As another example of the above, the Avro Heritage Museum has a timeline that wraps around three of the walls of the building. What is particularly well done is that it is at least partially paired with aircraft models hanging from the ceiling that depict the aircraft represented: Image (Source)
• The Prairie Aviation Museum has a very creative diorama showing Glacier Girl under the ice: Image (Source)

[kalamazookid]

I like this exhibit at the WACO Air Museum and Learning Center in Troy, Ohio. It uses photos and sign boards along with the partially assembled aircraft to talk about construction.

IMG_1289 on Flickr

[Noha307]

Another cool concept is using mirrors to either show areas that otherwise wouldn't be visible, or create the illusion of a larger exhibit than is actually able to fit in the available space.

For example, NASM used a mirror in their new Destination Moon gallery to make one and a quarter engines look like five: Image (Source via Post)

As an instance of the latter, NMUSAF has a mirror positioned under their Mark 13 torpedo to show the Mark 4 or Mark 8 exploder:

(Source: Personal Picture taken on 19 March 2019)

[DADE]

A museum aircraft can grab your attention for 15mins, but the smaller exhibits can take hours out of your day.
This is how a volunteer designed our flat pack north wing hangar back in 1983. Assembled it flat then secured one side and arched it by moving the other side into shape and locked it solid. He patented the design and sold the idea to others. Models are a great museum filler with just this one of many by another volunteer. If you were not born Picasso, you get a loan of a flat screen, to display photos on the wall and draw around the aircraft displayed and paint in the details by you guessed it a volunteer. Another volunteer to stop paint going down cylinder bores in a Pratt & Whitney engine, put a balloon in the cylinders and blew them up to seal them from any excess paint going down them and when dry released the air in the balloon, thus a lovely painted display. But if you want aircraft then one volunteer built a Sopwith Camel (some original parts from another volunteer), a Bristol Tourer and a Demoiselle aircraft in his backyard. So, although the displays are great, it is the smart volunteers that make any museum a pleasant place.

[Noha307]

I remember using a system board like this at the Northrop University A&P school.

On that note, apparently the Estrella Warbirds Museum picked up an training board for the electrical system on the A-7 from Lemoore NASB:
[Link to Image]
[Link to Image]
(Source: Facebook)

[Noha307]

Another pair of previous posts were unfortunately lost to the database update, again something I realized when I went to edit one of them. As before, they were archived and I kept copies, so they are restored below:

Well, if we're doing the cutaway or partially completed airplane exhibits, then I have to plug the one I designed for our museum:



Credit where credit is due, it was inspired by examples at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site and Pima Air and Space Museum.

EDIT (22-12-12): To push the credit one step further, I happened across an article today that named the builder of the the exhibit at the Pima Air and Space Museum as Mary Ellen Conrado.

After Evergreen Field closed in 2006, the weathered façade of one of the old hangars was removed and placed on one of the interior walls of the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum to make for a very cool backdrop: Image (Source).

[Xray]

Yankee air museum in Ypsi MI

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[old iron]

Yankee air museum in Ypsi MI

I will bite: what is it?

[bdk]

Yankee air museum in Ypsi MI

I will bite: what is it?

SBD Dauntless

[Noha307]

Yankee air museum in Ypsi MI

The exhibit is called "Deep Landings" and more pictures of the exhibit's construction are available in an album on Fotki. Also, it's worth noting that it is almost certainly based on the "Sunken Treasures" exhibit at the National Naval Aviation Museum.

Also, in-aircraft theaters have been done at a number of museums, for example in a DHC-4 forward fuselage at the Queensland Air Museum, but the one in the SNCASE SE.3200 Frelon at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace is particularly well done. It is particularly immersive as it works from all angles. Instead of just a single screen, the side windows and rear ramp have screens as well:
[Link to Image]
[Link to Image]
(Source: Travels with LPSPhoto)

Furthermore, the rear screen functions from both sides, so it is not just a blank slate from the outside:
[Link to Image]
(Source: Travels with LPSPhoto)

[Noha307]

Always enjoyed the cut-away Sabre at the US Air Force Museum

So the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace has a take on this I have never seen before with a full size aircraft. They have a Mirage F1 that is not only cut away, but - like the Link trainer mentioned in a previous post - has a transparent structure. It was made for the 1979 Paris Air Show and apparently even includes some sort of interactive element:
[Link to Image]
[Link to Image]
(Source: Travels with LPSPhoto)