Sherman and Ellie
Smith
Hangar One Museum
Tulsa Air
and Space Museum is dedicated to preserving not
just general aviation history, but Tulsa's aviation
history -- most people don't realize what a rich
one we have. Our many exhibits display the
large part Tulsa has played in the field of aviation
since its very beginning.
| W.H.
Helmerich Exhibit Hall |
Aircraft
Exhibits
• F-14A “Tomcat” Fighter
Jet
• Spartan
C-2
• Rockwell
Ranger 2000
• Navy
HTL-7 Bell Helicopter
• Aeromet
AURA Spy Plane
• XTC,
World’s 1st Amphibious Ultra Light
• Pitbull
Gyrocopter Rotorcraft
• Schleicher
KA-6E Sailplane
• Lear
24-D Corporate Jet |
Museum
Exhibits
Special Thanks to Hangar
One Capital Campaign Contributors for supporting our mission!
• McIntyre
Airport
• Tulsa
Municipal Terminal
• Hot
Air Balloon
• Golden
Age of Flight
• Early
Birds
• World
War II
• General
Aviation
• Space
Exploration
Special Thanks to Hangar One Contributors
for supporting our mission! |
Interactive
Exhibits
• Space
Shuttle Robotic Arm
• F-16 Wind Tunnel
• Galactic Schooner Spaceplane
• Space Shuttle Launch
|
|
Aircraft Descriptions
Ranger 2000
Built as a concept aircraft for the military’s Joint Primary Aircraft Training Systems competition the Ranger 2000 was the Rockwell entry built in conjunction with Germany’s DASA. The Ranger’s flight testing for military evaluation was performed at Tulsa International Airport. The museum’s aircraft is one of two prototypes remaining.
Spartan C-2-60
The C-2-60 is on loan to the musuem from the Spartan School of Aeronautics and Technology
The museum’s Spartan C-2-60 was built in
1931. It is powered by a Jacobs 60 hp 3 cylinder
engine. Only 16 of this type were built by Spartan
and there is only one other known to exist. The
C-2-60 and the C-3-225 are on loan to the museum
from the Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology.
Aeromet AURA
The AURA (Autonomous Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft)
was designed to orbit ballistic missile test
launch sites to gather data and video. It is
one of the earliest of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Patterned after Burt Rutan’s canard design
the AURA was built in Jenks, Oklahoma.
Schleicher Ka-6E Sailplane
The Schleicher Ka-6E features a molded plywood
fuselage and fabric covered wing and tail surfaces.
During its heyday the Ka-6E controlled the world
standard class and was responsible for setting
numerous records. The museum’s Schleicher
is a 1967 model.
F-14A Tomcat
Bureau number 161598, the museum’s Tomcat
is painted in the squadron markings of VF-41, the
Black Aces. Brought to the museum by Capt. Eric “Sodbuster” Benson
of Sallisaw, Oklahoma and U.S. Senator James Inhofe
of Tulsa, it is on loan from the National Museum
of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.
Bell 47K/HTL-7 Helicopter
The HTL-7 was the first instrument built trainer
helicopter for the U.S. Navy. Only 18 of the
version were built. The museum’s was flown
regularly by Tulsan Glenn Wright and was donated
to the museum in 1998.
Diehl Aeronautical XTC
The XTC is the world’s first production amphibious
ultralight. TASM’s XTC is the prototype of
which 68 kits were manufactured and sold beginning
in 1982. The diminutive aircraft featured several
innovations that were revolutionary when first
built, such as pre-molded parts and a vacuum formed
composite fuselage.
North American Rotorworks Pitbull
Our Pitbull was built by Kenneth Cottle of Columbia
Missouri. His first rotary-wing aircraft project,
Mr. Cottle decided to donate it to TASM without
ever having flown it! It was flown, however,
for 4.6 hours at an airshow in Iowa by the manufacturer
of the kit.
Lear 24-D Corporate Jet
Omni Air Transport purchased this 1976 model Lear
24 D in 1994 to be used for charter flights. Omni
Air Transport is a Tulsa based company which operates
passenger, cargo and air ambulance flights all
over North America, Mexico, South America, the
Bahamas and the Caribbean.
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Tulsa's
Aerospace Timeline
1897
The museum’s balloon exhibit portrays Tulsa’s
first official brush with aviation. On Independence
Day, 1897 a gentleman made a balloon ascension
to a height of 300 feet and parachuted from the
contraption to the delight of the crowds below.
1906-1911
The replica McIntyre Airport hangar façade
features display cases that recall Tulsa’s
Early Birds such as Jimmie Jones who built Tulsa’s
first indigenous aeroplane in 1906, a mere three
years after the Wright Brothers’ successful
first flight. Other early fliers in Tulsa included
Herman DeVry, Carl Maar and Leonard Bonney who
flew for the Tulsa Fair in 1911.
1919-1927
2008
Sponsor: Helmerich & Payne, Inc.
In 1919, Duncan McIntyre stopped in Tulsa on his
way to Spokane, Washington. After discovering
that Tulsa was ripe for aviation development,
McIntyre started Tulsa’s first commercial
airport. It would be at McIntyre’s airport
that the 1927 Ford Reliability Tour would land
giving many area Oklahomans their first glimpse
at aviation of the day. Charles Lindbergh would
also land at McIntyre’s airport in 1927.
These two events proved to the city fathers that
it was time for a bona fide city-run airport.
1927-1960
Oilman W.G. Skelly, along with other Chamber of
Commerce members, decided that the time was ripe
for the construction of a municipal airport for
Tulsa. In 1927, prominent Tulsa businessmen signed
their names to a promissory note to build a new
airport. By 1928, the airport was completed and
the grand opening was held from July 3rd to the
5th. TASM’s Art Deco Municipal Terminal
exhibit chronicles the airport’s history
from 1927 to 1960, when the new terminal building
was built. This exhibit features the only remaining
artifacts from the old terminal that was demolished
in 1969, including portions of the cast iron
door frame, original brass sconces from the terminal
lobby and the terra cotta cornerstone.
Survivors
This exhibit features
the stories of those Oklahomans that survived
the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The attack was the largest air power versus naval
power attack up to that time and showed just
how formidable a modern air force could be. In
addition, the exhibit features the stories of
Oklahoma prisoners of war from World War II through
the Viet Nam War.
World War II
2008 Exhibit Sponsor: Harold C. Stuart
Tulsa played a leading role in flight and mechanic
training even before America entered into World
War II. President Roosevelt saw war clouds gathering
in Europe and realized the need to help defend
Britain from Germany and Italy. As a result,
Royal Air Force pilots were trained in Northeast
Oklahoma beginning in 1940. This exhibit illustrates
how that extraordinary training was achieved
and how many Tulsan’s built bombers at
the local Douglas bomber plant.
Jet Age
In 1946, American Airlines made the decision to
move its maintenance base from New York to Tulsa.
This along with a contract for Douglas to build
America’s first strategic jet bomber, the
B-47, would catapult Tulsa into the Jet Age.
This exhibit includes a Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter
jet that fought in Desert Storm, a DC-10 CF-6
jet engine as well as the main landing gear of
a DC-10. Rare artifacts from the early days of
commercial jetliners are featured including American
Airlines and TWA.
Corporate and General Aviation
In the early part of 20th century Tulsa was dubbed,
The Oil Capitol of The World. It was the early
oil barons that saw the utility of aviation.
They could be the first on the scene to sign
lease for mineral rights to a piece of property
that didn’t even have roads leading to
it. As a result, as went the oil industry so
went the aviation industry. Tulsa was soon known
as the Aviation Capitol of The World as well.
Corporate aviation grew as more and more business
executives saw that ‘time was money’ and
time was saved by flying. This exhibit portrays
the growth of corporate aviation in Tulsa and
the businesses that grew up around it.
Space Age
President Kennedy issued a challenge that America
should dedicate itself to putting a man on the
moon and returning him safely to earth by the
end of the 1960’s. The day after that speech,
Tulsa hosted the First Peaceful Uses of Space
Conference. Tulsa became a hotbed of activity
for the space program. This exhibit shows the
various programs that were undertaken for NASA,
including the little publicized ‘unmanned
space program’. Astronauts from Oklahoma
are also featured in this exhibit.
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Hands-On Exhibit Descriptions
Viper F-16 Wind Tunnel
The Viper invites you to sit in the cockpit of
an F-16 fighter jet and fly a six foot long model
of a Tulsa Air Guard F-16 as it reacts to the
slipstream of the wind tunnel. With each movement
of the control stick or rudder pedals “Viper
Pilots” will see the control surfaces of
the model move and the aircraft perform to their
input allowing them to learn how aircraft are
controlled during flight.
T-37 Cockpit Trainer
For the younger pilots, the T-37 “Tweety
Bird” is just the ticket. Youngsters can
sit two at a time in the cockpit and flip buttons,
switches and move the control stick and rudder
pedals. In addition, they can listen to a live
feed from the Tulsa International control tower
and hear the air traffic controllers giving instructions
to arriving and departing flights. The experience
allows their imaginations to soar!
Discovery Shuttle Launch
You are Mission Control. It is your responsibility
to initiate the various milestones toward the
launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery and send
it on its way into orbit. When the switches on
your control panel are properly activated in
the correct sequence and the launch button is
depressed you can launch the 15 foot shuttle
to the ceiling of the museum complete with countdown
and launch audio and engine lights.
Kid’s Space (New Exhibit)
For the younger visitors to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, check out the Kid’s Space on the mezzanine level of the exhibit hall. Youngsters will have fun with the many hands-on activities in Kid’s Space. They can check out the puzzle tables and learn what’s inside of an airplane. The new magnetic airport table lets them move jet airliners and airport equipment around the runway, taxiway and into the hangar. The new Air Traffic Control Tower lets them pretend that they are controlling the aircraft in the sky and on the airport while listening to a live audio feed from the Tulsa International Airport control tower.
Space Shuttle Robotic Arm
Today’s assignment is to move the 1 billion
dollar communications satellite from one side of
the Space Shuttle cargo bay to the other to make
way for the retrieval of an orbiting satellite
in need of repair. Viewing your target through
several video cameras, you can work the shoulder,
elbow and wrist of the robotic arm and move your
satellite successfully.
Galactic Schooner Space Plane
At Burns Flat, Oklahoma the state is turning the
old Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base into a working
Spaceport. While space planes are currently under
development you can experience space travel from
Oklahoma today. In TASM’s Galactic Schooner
space plane you will launch from Burns Flat to
visit the International Space Station, the Hubble
Space Telescope and fly around the moon before
returning to earth. Glimpse the future of space
travel from your own backyard!
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