Phase I Groundbreaking

We’re excited to announce the official groundbreaking for Phase I of our new museum building. The date is Friday, July 19, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Bayland Buildings of Green Bay, Wis. is our general contractor and the new 12,000 sq. ft. steel hangar will be from Bluescope in nearby Evansville,

Continue reading

We’re Officially Out

As of today, June 17, 2019, the Kelch Aviation Museum is officially out of our existing storage building and office. Bring on the new building! Sign Removal

Continue reading

Safely Moving the Archive

With Phase 1 of the new museum building construction right around the corner, we began a long anticipated move of our archive to a suitable climate controlled facility in mid-May. The building that housed our books, papers, artwork, physical objects, etc., needed to be deconstructed to make room for the

Continue reading

Boy Scouts to the Rescue

Brodhead Boy Scout Troop 108 pitched in today to remove the observation deck from the current building at the Kelch Aviation Museum. They will be using the materials to make new cabins at the scout camp in Decatur Township. Thanks to all who worked safely today and kicked off our

Continue reading

Happy 90th Birthday to Stearman NC8811

90 Years Ago Today On April 11, 1929, the Stearman factory in Wichita, Kansas completed manufacturing work on another of their aircraft, a model C3B, serial number 221, registered NC8811. A week before, the aircraft had been sold to Rogers Aircraft, Inc. at Rogers Airport, 3901 Angeles Mesa Dr., Los Angeles,

Continue reading

Kelch Aviation Museum Hires Part-Time Archivist

The Kelch Aviation Museum’s Library & Archive continues to grow through generous donations of valuable collections from around the country. A cornerstone of our mission is to provide education and awareness to the public and the aviation community about the Golden Age of Aviation. Media – whether it be photographs,

Continue reading

Velie Monocoupe

This Velie powered Monocoupe 70 hangs in the California Science Center in Los Angeles, and is nearly identical to N800HB, owned by the Kelch Aviation Museum. Our Model 70 is the only “project” airplane in the collection and we hope to return it to flight in the coming years.

Continue reading

Aviation Royalty!

During a presentation on the Golden Age of Aviation in Oconomowoc today, we met Norm Poberezny, Paul’s younger brother. We talked about learning to fly and the early days of #EAA!

Continue reading

1932 Michigan Air Tour

The sister ship to our Curtiss-Wright 12-W (one serial number below) is shown here in 1932 with its original owner, Ruth Kitchel from Coldwater, Michigan. Ruth and her friend Alice Hirschman flew in the 1932 Michigan Air Tour. This picture was printed in the Detroit Times. Ruth & Alice flew

Continue reading

We Made It!

We made it! Just. Barely. At the very last minute yesterday, on New Year’s Eve, we accomplished our goal of raising all $123,333 of the William S. Knight Foundation challenge grant for 2018. That means the museum will receive a check for an additional $123,333 this week. Thank you to

Continue reading