Combat Air Museum

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Combat Air Museum
Location Forbes Field Airport
7016 SE Forbes Avenue
Topeka, Kansas 66619
United States
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Type Aircraft Museum
Website combatairmuseum.org

The Combat Air Museum is a museum at Topeka Regional Airport / Forbes Field (former Forbes Air Force Base), in Williamsport Township, Shawnee County, near Topeka, Kansas. Topeka Regional Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located six miles (10 km) south of the central business district of Topeka.[1]

The Museum

The Combat Air Museum is a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit institution dedicated to the creation of facilities and resources for the education of the local and regional communities through the collection, preservation, conservation and exhibition of aircraft, information, artifacts, technology and art associated with the military aviation history of the United States of America.[1]

The Museum and the Airport

Topeka Regional Airport is owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority (MTAA). The Museum rents two hangars from the MTAA. It is one of a handful of major aviation museums in the United States located on an active air field.

Topeka Regional Airport, formerly an air force base, is home to the 190th Air Refueling Wing (190 ARW) of the Kansas Air National Guard, the 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment of the Kansas Army National Guard, and other private commercial operators.

Visitors to the Museum are regularly treated to flying activities of Air Force tanker and fighter aircraft and Army helicopter operations. With the second longest runway in the State of Kansas, large refueling tanker aircraft of the Air National Guard and army troop transports often fill the skies around the Museum.

History

In the autumn of 1976, the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas organized as a wing of Yesterday's Air Force (YAF) (of David Tallichet). In 1979, the group reorganized as "Combat Air Museum," relocating to Forbes Field Hangar #602.[2]

Exhibits

Today, the Museum has 36 aircraft, mostly military (mostly American), representing World War I to the present day (especially jets from the 1950s to the 1980s), plus various aircraft engines, military vehicles and other military displays.[1][2]

You may speak with volunteers who are working on restoration of some of the aircraft[2]

Aircraft

Nearly all of the museum's aircraft are U.S. military aircraft (with a few foreign military aircraft). Some are military versions of civilian airplanes, or civilian planes used for military purposes. According to the Museum's website, as retrieved in April 2015,[1] the Museum has these aircraft:

Antique Airplanes

World War I
World War II

Modern Airplanes

modern PROPELLER airplanes
modern JET airplanes

Rotorcraft/Helicopters

Rockets/Missiles/Drones

Other Exhibits[2]

  • aircraft engines,
  • military vehicles
  • military facility displays, including simulated:
    • field kitchen,
    • field chapel,
    • German POW barracks
  • military aviation art.

Visiting hours

  • March to December: Monday-Saturday is 9:00 am – 4:30 pm, Sundays is Noon - 4:30 pm. (No new visitors admitted after 3:30 pm)
  • Winter (Jan 2nd through Feb 28/29th): Everyday is Noon - 4:30 pm. (No new visitors admitted after 3:30 pm)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Combat Air Museum official website
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Combat Air Museum - Topeka, Kansas, on the website KansasTravel.org

External links

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