Sioux City, IA — During its three years in operation, the Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation has had visitors from all 50 states and 11 foreign countries tour its 30,000-square foot facility, which features commercial air crafts, vintage automobiles and military artifacts and memorabilia. Executive director Larry Finley said the museum is a “work in progress” that is always changing.
A Beech 18 aircraft parked outside the museum on its concrete taxiway/parking lot is in the process of being sanded and repainted.
The inside of a FedEx Boeing 727, which connects to the building via a jetway, will eventually be turned into a mini theater and learning lab, according to Finley.
“If we keep it interesting for people, every time they come back they see something new, they learn something new,” he said.
The museum, which opened in March 2010, is located on the northeast corner of Sioux Gateway Airport at 2600 Expedition Court. The facility served as a B-17 training base for the Army Air Corps during the 1940s.
Finley said a UH-1 Huey helicopter from the Vietnam War is the most photographed item at the museum. The open cab Ford firetruck, he said, is also a favorite. Both are on loan, as are many of the classic cars that dot the floor.
New to the museum’s aviation exhibit is a 1939 Piper Cub.
Exhibits, Finley said, are arranged in chronological order for the museum’s youngest patrons. Tours start by the Little Western Steel Grader and a doctor’s buggy.
Along the way, visitors see an Army bunk bed and the first 30 feet of a United Airlines 727. The first class section, which will be completely restored and converted into a mini theater, and accompanying memorabilia pay tribute to United Flight 232.
The DC-10 en route from Denver to Chicago on July 19, 1989, crash-landed in a cornfield next to the runway at Sioux Gateway Airport killing more than 100 people. Captain Al Haynes was among the 185 survivors. His mangled seat is also on display at the museum.
Air Museum tells Siouxland’s story of flight