A Museum Tour Through Aviation History

General Aviation (Gallery 105)

The General Aviation gallery was in place in 1981, and it showcased the less glamorous aspect of personal or private aircraft. It has since been replaced by the Age of Golden Flight exhibit. Come take a look back in time at an earlier time in the Museum's history.

Piper J-3 Cub
(1938)

First introduced in 1938, the Piper J-3 Cub was so popular that it soon became almost synonymous with the term "general aviation." The early designs for the plane were originated in the late 1920s by brothers Gilbert and Gordon Taylor. In 1930, Gilbert (the surviving brother after a fatal test crash for Gordon around 1929), teamed with William Piper to build an underpowered plane that they called the Tiger Kitten. With a more powerful engine now available, the Taylor E-2 Cub was born in 1931 and over 200 were sold by 1935. The plane was completely redesigned in 1936 and designated the Taylor J-2. Taylor later left the firm and Piper resumed production of the J-2. By 1938, a still more improved engine was available, leading to the development of the Piper J-3 version. In 1938, a J-3 sold for about $1,300. During World War II, the Piper Cub joined military service as both a trainer and an aerial observation plane. Production ended in 1947, with more than 14,000 Piper Cubs having been produced. The Museum's plane was built in 1940 and had a total of about 6,000 hours of flying time.

Beechcraft 35 Bonanza "Waikiki Beech"
(1947)

In the same year that production of the Piper Cub stopped, the Beechcraft Bonanza came onto the scene. Unlike the high-wing Cub, the Bonanza was a powerful, low-wing, retracable landing gear plane that sported an unusual "V" tail configuration. It was regarded by many as the "Cadillac" of single-engine private planes. The "Waikiki Beech" in the Museum's collection was used by Captain William Odom to set two distance records. In March 1949, Odom and the Beechcraft Bonanza "Waikiki Beech" set a cross-country record by flying from Honolulu to Teterboro, New Jersey (some 5,000 miles) in 36 hours. This eclipsed Odom's earlier record on a flight from Honolulu to Oakland, California in January 1949.

Cessna 180 "Spirit of Columbus"
(1953)

The Cessna 180 "Spirit of Columbus" was built in 1953, the first year of production of this model of Cessna single-engined monoplane. In 1964, Mrs. Geraldine Mock used the "Spirit of Columbus" to become the first woman to pilot an aircraft around the world. She departed from Columbus, Ohio on March 19, 1964 and 29 1/2 days later, arrived back home after a trip of 23,103 miles. Cessna 180s became extremely popular in its civilian role and also served in the military as the L-19 Bird Dog observation plane. Later models of the aircraft were mounted with tri-cycle landing gear (instead of the original tail-wheeler) and were designated Cessna 182s. The Cessna 182 remains a mainstay of general aviation.

Gates Learjet Model 23
(1963)

Just 10 years after the advent of the Cessna 180, a quantum leap in technology presented itself in the form of the Gate Learjet Model 23, which perhaps represents the epitome of what an executive jet is supposed to be. The Museum's Learjet was the second one built in 1964 and it had more than 1,120 flight hours by the time it was retired in 1966. It was later used by NASA for wind tunnel tests. A Model 24 Learjet broke 18 international aviation records during a 50 hour 39 minute flight around the world in May 1966. Learjets continue to be prized members of the world's fleet of executive and private jets.

As our tour of aviation history continues, we next turn to an aspect of powered flight that is relatively new in comparison to the world of fixed wing aircraft -- Vertical Flight.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003