The MAPS Air Museum, run by the Military Aircraft Preservation Society, is located at the Akron-Canton Regional Airport in Green, Ohio, USA.
Overview
The museum was started in 1991 and is operated by a group of volunteers. The hangar in which the museum displays aircraft is a former US National Guard hangar. The National Guard has built a larger hangar to suit their needs on the northern part of the airport where MAPS is located (on the west side of the airport). The museum currently has over 20 aircraft and a collection of rare artifacts. Volunteer crews are working to restore several warbirds to non-flying, museum quality. Aircraft include a C-47 Skytrain, Mig-17, F-14 Tomcat, F-84, F-100D, B-26 Marauder, F-4 Phantom, S-2 Tracker, 0-2 Skymaster, C-37 Tweet, Vought Corsair 2, F-11 Tiger, as well as two aircraft from the Goodyear Rubber Company located in Akron.
The museum has a cabin from a Goodyear blimp on display in the hangar and an amphibious aircraft named "the Goodyear drake" is also being restored. The museum also has three helicopters, two of which are on display for visitors to see. The helicopters on display, a Kiowa and a Cobra (both manufactured by Bell Helicopter), fought in the Vietnam war. Some aircraft that are hangared at MAPS are owned by private collectors and pay a rent fee for space inside the hangar where their aircraft is also on display with the rest of the planes. Most of the aircraft are on loan from the US Airforce or Navy for restoration purposes. The museum is waiting for an F-16 to be decommissioned from service and sent to the museum to be put on display.
- The Gallery of Heroes
The museum also has a display room with detailed models and period items from wars. This area, dubbed "the gallery of heroes", has displays on Pearl Harbor, The Tuskegee Airmen, Rosie the Riveter, and other displays of members of the museum and community that fought in wars and have loaned their items to the museum to be put on display.
Events
The museum hosts various events during the summer season. MAPS hosts organizations that fly in aircraft and sell rides. In the past, aircraft from the EAA (Ford Trimotor), and the Collings Foundation (B-17, B-24, P-51C) have visited the museum with a live airplane. The museum also has an annual car show in June. In 2010, the Sopwith tri-wing was fired-up.
Facilities
The gift shop at the museum has shirts, models, posters, jackets, puzzles, radio-controlled helicopters, and aviation-related items for souvenirs. There is an admission charge at the museum.
References
External links
- MAPS Air Museum website
- Where history takes flight
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