Pictures from Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum
The Atchinson Amelia Earhart Foundation announced Tuesday that the grand opening of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum will be on Friday, April 14, 2023. It is located at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport (K59) in the namesake’s birthplace, Atchison, Kansas.
Amelia Earhart, born July 24, 1897, was a pioneer in American aviation and the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial aviation and in 1928 she was the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by Airplane, with pilot Wilmer Stultz. In 1932, Earhart made her first transatlantic flight, the first woman to do so, and was awarded the United States Distinguished Flying Cross for this achievement.
Earhart became a visiting faculty member at Purdue University in 1935 and was an advisor to aeronautical engineering and a career counselor for female students. In 1937, she attempted to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight. In a Lockheed Model Electra 10-E, Earhart and a navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean. The pair were officially declared dead one year and six months after the disappearance.
She was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1968 and the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973. Her legacy in aviation continues, now with the upcoming grand opening of a museum in her name. The Museum will be the first to blend STEM and historical storytelling to honor her legacy.
“It has been a great adventure to build this state-of-the-art museum worthy of Amelia Earhart’s legacy in her Atchison, Kansas, hometown,” said Karen Seaberg, founder and president of the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation. “We look forward to celebrating the grand opening on April 14 when the new Museum will bring Amelia’s extraordinary story to life while inspiring visitors to boldly pursue their own dreams.”
With storytelling and STEM exhibits, the Museum plans to honor “Earhart’s enduring aviation legacy to defy the odds and pursue her dreams of flight and inspire future generations to imagine their own possibilities.”
The museum will also feature a virtual reality flight, putting the user into the cockpit of Earhart’s Lockheed Vega 5B on a flight over the Atlantic.
“As the hometown to one of the world’s most admired women, the City of Atchison is proudly looking forward to the grand opening of the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum that will become a popular destination — particularly for families, tourists, educators, students and aviators,” Atchison Mayor Lisa Moody said. “With the Museum’s unique location at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport, we look forward to welcoming visitors to Atchison from across the Midwest, the U.S. and around the world.”
The centerpiece is “Muriel” the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E, identical to the plane Earhart flew on her final flight around the world. It is named after her younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey. It was originally built by Lockheed Martin in 1935 and sold to Pan American Airways. The plane was later flown in South America, a possible factor in its survival during WWII when many planes were used for military defense, lost or scrapped.
The plane was sold and resold and ended up in the Wings and Wheels Museum in Orlando, Florida. It was displayed outside until the Museum closed in the mid-1930s. The deterioration faced by the elements almost had it scrapped, until a female pilot and mechanic searching for a plane like Earhart’s bought it and spent 30 years restoring it to be identical to the plane Earhart flew.
The restoration included red lining on the wings and a circular antenna on top. After health problems prevented the pilot from flying around the world in Muriel, the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation purchased Muriel in 2016. After the purchase, the plane was carefully dismantled and went on a six-day, 1,206-mile journey from El Cajon, California to Atchison, Kansas.
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World’s last Electra 10-E heads to new Amelia Earhart Museum
The Museum will be an experience for any age. You are greeted with a CGI Amelia Earhart when you enter, then you journey through her life and many triumphs in aviation and learn about other women in aviation in the past and present.
The Museum has many interactive features, like the full-scale replica of Muriel’s cockpit to 3-D aircraft holograms. Following the opening, the museum will apply to become an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
“The Museum has been uniquely designed to reflect Amelia’s fearless spirit and celebrate her legacy of innovation,” said Jacque Pregont, Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation board member. “Visitors will journey through Amelia’s courageous life of defying odds, overcoming social and scientific obstacles, and ultimately using her achievements to encourage others to realize new possibilities.”
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