AMA Museum

My best friend and fellow RC'er and general aviation nut, Mr. Ogden Wiggins from Ayden NC and I have been talking about going to the USAF museum in Dayton OH for about 15 years now and this past October our schedules lined up and we finally made the trip together. While there I happened to notice we were 80 miles away from Muncie IN...home of the AMA. We decided to go a little farther west and see what our AMA dues have accomplished at the AMA HQ. My 11 year old son, Collin also tagged along on the week long trip and was grateful for the opportunity. His teachers gave him all of his assignments for the week and we were off to the museums.

The AMA museum was really interesting if you're an AMA member. The grounds of the AMA HQ span about 1,000 acres. We were kicking ourselves for not bringing an airplane or two to fly...we'll get'em next time. There's plenty of places to fly on the AMA site, paved runways, grass runways, RC car track, free flight field, control line...you name it...they had it and it was all free if you're an AMA member! Plenty of RV hook-ups too...right on sight of the flying fields. Plug your RV in and be no farther than 100 feet away from the runway as long as you like! It wasn't busy either during the weekdays! If you break something, there's a hobby shop about 1 mile down the road from the site!

The AMA museum was very interesting. Lots of neat airplanes, RC, control line, free flight they had it all. They also had a very interesting display of engines from what seemed to be the beginning of model aviation to current. All models were donated by members, but they don't take just anyone's airplanes. Any modeler can donate items to the museum, there's a form you have to fill out and a museum committee assess whether or not the item is needed for the museum...so your justification for it being in the museum has to tie in with it's historical significance to model aviation. There was also an amazing RC library on site of the museum. Pull up a chair and start referencing your next RC project. You can literally spend all day in the library. The librarian is a nice guy as well and will bend over backwards to help you. They have EVERY RC magazine in existences publication all neatly cataloged and ready for your review. If you can't make it to the museum, tell the AMA librarian what you need and he'll photo copy it for you...just pay for the photocopies and postage.

It was a great trip and not that burdensome of a drive. If you're ever close to Indiana, go to Muncie and see what your AMA dues do. It's a fun little town and a great place to visit. We had a great time even if we didn't bring a plane...we'll get'em next time.