Local History

Brothers Kent and Kurt Van Galder donated two very special items with some incredible local history: A painting of their father, Russell, bailing out of an airplane – and the very same parachute that saved his life in that incident! Many local aviators remember Russell Van Galder, a flight instructor

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Open House!

You’re invited to the Kelch Aviation Museum vintage holiday open house! Come join us for cookies, crafts, cocoa, live music – and oh yeah, AIRPLANES! Invite a friend and RSVP on our facebook event page: fb.me/e/25c4MR8rJ

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Blackhawk Saturday

Instead of Black Friday… It’s BlackHAWK Saturday! We love showing off this biplane – an amazing restoration story, rare running Wright J5 engine, one of only 11 built. Listen to that engine – what a distinct, satisfying sound. Check out this (and 12+ other planes on display), plus free kids

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Limited Edition Ornaments!

New limited edition biplane Christmas tree ornaments for sale now! They’re so cute and hand decorated 🤩 head over to our gift shop to buy one now – in person or online.

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Black Friday….?

15% off all merchandise in our online gift shop this weekend. Call it Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday or whatever, enter code FLY2022 at checkout to receive the discount through Monday, 11/28. https://www.kelchmuseum.org/shop/

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Closed on Thanksgiving

We’re closed Thanksgiving Day, but we hope you enjoy your holiday as much as Charlie Black of New York did on this early Pan American Airways flight. Photo by Bettmann/Corbis. The museum will open again on Friday, November 25 from 10am to 4pm. Stop by with the family!

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The Birth of A New Magazine, plus the Lindbergh Bird

Old Magazines with Michael John, no. 6: The Birth of A New Magazine, Lindbergh, and the Bird My love for old aviation magazines started back in highschool when I would read the then-current issues, in particular FLYING MAGAZINE.  Whenever a new issue of FLYING arrived, I immediately looked inside the

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Matty Laird & Al Kelch

Throwback Thursday: Matty Laird, founder of Laird Airplane Co, posing with our own Al Kelch, founder of the Kelch Aviation Museum! Al was a huge Laird fan, and was lucky enough to get to know Matty in the 1970s.

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Group Tour Magazine

Look, we’re in the current issue of Group Tour Magazine! Schedule your group tour with us soon. Bring a bus load or a car load or fly-out with your local pilots group. We’re happy to accommodate any size group and can even arrange for meals on site. Call or e-mail

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Pilots Directions

Ahh, nothing like a good old fashioned sectional! Navigation has changed so much since the early years of flight, but map-reading skills will never go out of style. A favorite book here at the museum is “Pilots Directions,” a handbook published in 1921 by the U.S. Post Office’s Air Mail

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