Wings Over Miami Air Museum

Introduction

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Located at the Tamiami Airport, Wings Over Miami is a museum that displays and operates historic aircraft and preserves the stories of the pilots who flew them. The museum hangar houses military and vintage planes, like the B-59, 1942 Boeing Stearman, 1957 Ikarus, and the GNAT, used by the British Yellowjacks and Red Arrows aerobatic team from 1964-1979. Other historical exhibits focus on aviation and World War II.

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The museum hangar houses military and vintage planes

Backstory and Context

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Pilot Kermit Weeks kept his collectoin of vintage aircraft in a hanger that served as not only a safe place to preserve the planes but also to share them with the public. Unfortunately, Weeks's museum of aircraft was destroyed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Like others, Weeks rebuilt, but eventually moved his expanding collection of aircraft to a larger property in Polk County where he created his "Fantasy of Flight."

According to the Wings Over Miami official website, "Weeks Air Museum moving out of Miami left a void in the aviation community in South Florida. As a result, in late 2001, four military and classic plane enthusiasts came together and decided to transition the existing hanger into 'Wings Over Miami Air Museum.'" The museum founders are Walter Orth, Larry Ploucha, Vincent Tirado and Tom Righetti, who received help from Weeks in moving a new collection into the facility.

According to the museum website, "The museum’s collection of aircraft is almost entirely in flying condition, and some are flown regularly, mainly on the weekends. Additionally, there is recurrent plane maintenance and renovation activity on site which the public may notice as they walk through the museum. This too, is keeping with the museum’s mission of being an active flying museum."

Sources

http://www.wingsovermiami.com/about/history/

Additional Information

http://www.wingsovermiami.com/