Museum wish list

Visitors often stop in the museum and, as they look around, remark that they do not see a particular airplane, radio, or engine on display. While they might be correct, that does not always mean the museum does not have those particular items in the collection. Due to the size of the museum’s exhibit space, and to better protect the artifacts, we periodically rotate various items on and off display.   There are, however, pieces, and in some cases entire classes, of items that we do not have any examples of in the collection. At the present time, this is our "wish list."

Aircraft that represent the development of scale aerobatic competition. What we would like to be able to showcase is how the models in that category have evolved, allowing visitors and current competitors, to visually trace how the aircraft have changed and why. For scale aerobatics, we would be looking at the glow fuel .60 powered biplanes of the 1970s like the Pitts, transitioning to monoplanes like Lasers, and CAP 21s, replaced by larger scale Extras, and Sukhois, and culminating with today’s 30-40% aircraft.

If you feel you have a significant aircraft that could fit into this history and you would be interested in donating it to the museum, you can begin the donation process by submitting an artifact submission form found here.The paperwork will then be forwarded to the museum’s acquisition committee for review and approval. Please do not send any donation to the museum without prior approval of museum staff. For further information, questions or for paper copies of the form please visit our donations page here, or contact Maria at , or 765-287-1256, ext. 508.

The museum is also looking for a National Champion trophy for the collection.  Please note that this does not mean Nats trophies in general, as we have the majority of those represented.  We are looking for an example of the trophy that was awarded to the competition's overall winner.

Also, we have only 3 turbine engines in the collection, and would like to add more. If you have a turbine engine that you would consdier donating, please contact Maria.

We are looking for turbine powered aircraft, as we do not have any in the collection currently.

We are looking for a Jetex 100 or Jetex 200 motor, to place in a replica Zephyr model that is be built for the collection. The Zephyr, along with the Meteor, were featured in Aeromodeller Magazine, June 1948, as part of a special issue highlighting the release of the Jetex motor. 

We are also looking for the following model helicopters:

Graupner Bell Z-12 – one of the very first commercially available radio-controlled helicopters from 1973.

Raptor 30 size

Schulter Heli-Baby – one of the 1st pod & boom model helicopters, it started the trend to smaller helicopter models.

Schulter Heli-Boy – one of the 1st fully aerobatic directly out of the box.

T-Rex 450, version 1

 Club Histories

Are you a member of a club?
Do you want more people to know about your club?
Do you know its history?
If so, we would like to hear from you!
The AMA’s History Program was created to tell the complete story of model aviation through a collection of histories of modelers, clubs, and companies. There are thousands of model aviation-related clubs in the United States, but our Program only has the histories of eight clubs in our online collection! Please help us document the history of modeling clubs by sharing your stories with us. You help us by adding to the overall history of American modeling clubs, and we help you by getting the word out about your club and potentially attracting new members.

Telling Us About Your Club is as Simple as 1-2-3!

1. Print out our Club History Writing Guide online found here:

2. Write as much as you can about the club. Make sure to read and complete the consent form, which is the last page of the guide.

3. Mail the completed Club History Writing Guide (with completed consent form) and additional materials to:

For more information about the AMA History Program, visit here.

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Books

We are also looking to add these two books to the library:

Collins, A. Frederick.  Aviation and All about It.  1929.

Zecchitella, Phillip.  Model Aircraft Yearbook. 1936.