Mother Nature finally relented and our landscaping is underway around the new museum hangar. A new driveway and parking area are in on the east side, and grading backfill is under way in preparation for a lot of grass seed! Thanks to Kranig Excavating Inc. of Albany, Wis. for the

Today, we moved one of the rarest items in our collection to the new hangar; this Fairchild-Caminez cam engine. Forget what you learned in engineering school, this radial has an even number of cylinders, not an odd number like every other radial engine. A cam drive mechanism converted the motion

On May 20-21st, 1932, Amelia Earhart, flying a Lockheed Vega, became the first woman to make a solo flight across the North Atlantic. She took off from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland, and landed in Derry, Northern Ireland, 14 hours 54 minutes later. Here she poses with her red Vega shortly

At this time, we’re all relying so much on airmail, and yet it’s barely 100 years old! On this day in 1918, the USA Post Office made the first scheduled airmail trip between New York and Washington, D.C. Here’s some fun original newsreel footage of that important day! Keep an

We posted a photo of our Charles Lindbergh statue last week. Here’s a photo of the real man, in Milwaukee in 1927.

There’s a nice sunset reflected off the museum’s windows tonight.

We moved Charles Lindbergh into the new hangar today – with proper health precautions, of course… Let this photo go on the record: at Kelch Aviation Museum we’re doing our part to keep the world healthy!

When we’re not working from home, our staff wears masks. We know we may look a bit odd, but we aren’t the first ones – check out this very, um, interesting, mask situation from the 1918 flu pandemic! Stay safe, everyone.

An awesome piece of local history has joined the museum, on permanent loan from the Brodhead Fire District. This Pirsch REO fire truck was purchased new by the city in 1923 and was in service until 1953. Restored in 1982, it has been in countless parades and celebrations, and on

Someone donated a pamphlet from the Cole Brothers’ airshow in Brodhead back in 1953. Cool! Here’s some video of that same show in Rockford a few years later. Can you spot any familiar planes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GSb3Ud0SI