During the summer of 2016, 88-year old Brodhead resident Jeanne Scholes visited the Kelch Aviation Museum for the first time and told us stories of her flying days as a young girl. She took lessons at age 15, soloed at 16 and earned her private pilot certificate at 18. Jeanne flew Stearman,

We are proud to release this new video to support our $1 Million capital campaign to construct a new museum facility. In it, you’ll meet Al Kelch, see firsthand the history behind the Kelch organizations and how learn how the Kelch Aviation Museum came to be. You’ll also learn about

On Thursday, November 3rd, with perfect autumn weather, we conducted an air-to-air photo shoot of our 1928 Stearman C3B with noted aviation photographer, Jim Koepnick. Greg Heckman was the Stearman pilot with Eric Berens piloting the photo ship, our 1932 Curtiss 12-W. Here is a short video clip from the

Now that we have several flight hours on the museum’s Stearman C3B, its time to start taking care of the squawks that have turned up on the airplane. One of those was the propeller. On take-off, the Wright J-5 engine wasn’t turning up to the proper RPM, only about 1,500

The museum staff had a great time on Sunday, Sept. 25th hosting a group of vintage tractors on a drive for Alzheimer’s awareness.

The guys over at Synqronus Communications in Monroe, Wis. put together a very nice video of the Stearman’s return to flight on Monday, August 15, 2016. Please take a look below.

Almost 19 years to the day since it last flew, our 1928 Stearman C3B returned to the skies over Brodhead today. Pilot Greg Heckman and our team of mechanics have been working on the old girl for several weeks, fixing several minor squawks and making sure everything turned in the

Many people in the Midwest vintage aircraft community know the name Bill Knight. He was a long-time presence at Brodhead Airport where the Kelch Aviation Museum is based, and flew several different restored aircraft for many years. He owned a Waco UPF-7, Waco RNF, Taylorcraft, Airmaster, Cessna 180, two Pietenpols and

After a lengthy condition inspection, we were able to start the Wright J-5 engine on our 1928 Stearman C3B today. This is the first time it has run since August 22, 1997. We have a few more squawks to fix and it should return to the skies soon! [youtube]NFgO1QLpslw[/youtube] A

On Friday, July 1, we had the pleasure of taking 87-year old Bonnie Jeanne Scholes for a flight in our Travel Air 12W. Jean visited our museum back in May at the airport’s pancake breakfast and mentioned that she was, “…the first woman to land at Brodhead Airport. In 1945!” Jeanne