Warbirds and Airshows
By David D Jackson

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 Indiana Museums - Aviation, Military, Automotive and Fire

Hoosier Air Museum
Auburn, IN
Date visited:  8-21-2013

The Hoosier Air Museum closed on December 9, 2019.  Several of the aircraft were moved to the Kruze Education Center several miles away.  Many of the aircraft were sold off or given to other museums.  It is unknown at this time what aircraft and displays are now at Kruze, which is a former shadow of the really good museum it used to be.  I am afraid most of the displays and aircraft were sold, and the new Hoosier Air Experience at Kruze will be a major disappointment as is the rest of what remains in the building. 

This is the fourth Indiana Museum to close since I started publishing in 2013.  The Hoosier Air Museum was one of the first museums I visited and did a report on.

I will leave this webpage open for historical purposes.  This was really a cool little museum.  It is sad to see it go.
DDJ 5-19-2020

The Hoosier Air Museum is one of two dedicated aviation museums in the state of Indiana, and one of four museums located in Auburn, IN.  It is located on the south side of the DeKalb County Airport and is a ten minute drive from any of the other three museums located in the area, which includes two automobile and one combination military/automobile museum.  The Hoosier Air Museum is the smaller of the two aviation museums in the state and has limited summer hours, so one needs to check its web site before visiting.  


The museum has this combination hangar/meeting room building located on a its own tract of land on the south side of the airport.  The actual airport complex with FBO and hangars is on the north side of the field.  The hangar section contains all of the aircraft displays, while the meeting room is for member meetings and to be rented out for other occasions. 


Originally the organization started as Hoosier Warbirds and then became the Hoosier Air Museum. 


Stepping inside the museum one finds a new, clean and well lit aircraft display area.


Every time I go to a museum, I always discover something I had not seen before.  While the Hoosier Air Museum is not that large, it did have this WWII B-24 auto pilot.  What a mechanical nightmare!


The unit is about 2.5 feet square and 10-12 inches in height.  Unfortunately there was no other documentation on the device, and the docent on duty could not provide me with any addition information on the unit.  I was not able to determine by looking at it where the inputs and outputs to the device were.


This photo shows a cross section of the unit.


Included among the engines on display is this R-3350.


This Allison V-1710-89 was primarily used on the right engine of the P-38J and P-38L.


Sometimes one can learn something from an ID tag.  I was unaware that Allison did not number its cylinders one through twelve as an automotive engine would be  numbered.  The cylinders are numbered for the left and right side, one through six.  That then brings up the question as to which is the left and right side.


On display is AH-1G, serial number 67-1570 which served in Vietnam.


This Hiller OH-23B Raven is in the markings of the Michigan Army National Guard and is on loan from the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum. 


This T-50, N672, is one of the original aircraft in the museum and is registered to Hoosier Warbirds.  About fifteen years ago this aircraft was flyable and taken to events.  However, I have not known of it flying in recent times.  This particular T-50 came off the assembly line in Wichita, KS in 1944.


The large meeting room has aviation displays of interest around the perimeter of the room.
 

 

 


 
Home  Indiana Museums    Indiana Tanks on Outside Display   The Beginning    Revisions   First Flight of P-38F Glacier Girl  
USS Theodore Roosevelt    WWII Aircraft Manufacturing Sites    Gateguards
 2007 Airshows   2008 Airshows  22009 Airshows   2010 Airshows    2011 Airshows    2012 Airshows   2013 Airshows   2014 Airshows    2015 Airshows  2016 Airshows    2017 Airshows    2018 Airshows  
2019 Airshows   2020 Airshows   2021 Airshows   2022 Airshows   2023 Airshows   2024 Airshows
Aviation Museums of the Pacific Northwest
   Display Helicopter Locations   CAL FIRE   PV-2 Harpoon Photos     F6F Hellcat Photos
   Warbird Sightings   WWII US Air-Air Victories   Guest Photos    Indiana Warbirds   Featured Photos  Other Items   Links

Historic Sites   Historic Forts   Historic Texas Independence Sites   Pre-Historic Sites   Historic Manhattan Project Sites   GM Heritage Center


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