The Aviation Museum of KY

This past Saturday, we made a detour on our way home from Lexington.  The kids knew exactly where we were as we turned and they saw airplanes flying overhead.  Immediately, they asked, "Are we flying on an airplane?  Are we going to Ethiopia?"  Oh how naive...  fly to Ethiopia at a moment's notice?  So very tempting, but not quite possible!

Instead, we went down the road a bit and stopped at The Aviation Museum of Kentucky.  Honestly, until we began driving past signs for it on our way to church, I did not know this place even existed.  Thanks to a Groupon deal, the cost of this attraction for my family of 5 was only $11.  We chose to stop on Saturday in hopes of beating the heat, but unfortunately, the warehouse like building lacked air-conditioning.  It definitely got sticky, but we were able to see all that was there easily in under an hour, so we survived.

 

The museum houses model planes, restored and flyable aircraft, engines, flight suits, and various memorabilia.  Inside, we saw a T38 Talon, a Blue Angel jet, a Navy F-14 Tomcat and several others.  Highlights for the kids included standing inside a GE CF 6 Turbofan Engine which powers a 747 jet and climbing inside a Bell OH58-A Kiowa Helicopter.  They each took turns being pilot, co-pilot, and passenger.  There were so many buttons to press, knobs to turn, and switches to flip.  Jeremiah was in heaven!