Tucked away on the corner of the tarmac at the Akron-Canton Airport is a gem of history. The Military Aircraft Preservation Society (MAPS) Air Museum (web, map) is a museum/restoration organization (see left, click to enlarge) that while tiny compared to the gargantuan big brother in Dayton (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) has its own neat little niche that brings visitors back periodically. 
Originally housed in a small, almost workshop type, building, MAPS appeared to primarily be a restoration organization (see right, click to enlarge). On one visit I parked near a ditch next to a hulking fuselage of a World War II TBF Avenger torpedo/bomber (similar to the one President George H.W. Bush was shot down in), minus its wings, awaiting restoration. On the MAPS website you can follow the restoration process of several planes, including the work on a World War II B-26 Marauder.
Over the years MAPS has sponsored various activities, including for a few years an air show at the Akron-Fulton Municipal Airport (read past news release). In the first decade of the 21st Century, MAPS obtained a hangar across from the small building that has tarmac access which made it easier for the public to view the planes on display and integrate fly-ins with the museum.
While only a fraction of the planes that can be found four hours down the highway in Dayton at the National Museum of the Air Force, there is a unique flair to the collection. One of the more recent additions, a Sopwith Triplane of World War I vintage, was built from scratch by Akron-area pilot Bill Woodall over about 20 years. (see left, click to enlarge)
The gondola from the Goodyear blimp Spirit of Akron (see right, click to enlarge) is on display and one can climb aboard and sit in a seat day-dreaming, as many Akron area residents do, that perhaps someday they will get the opportunity to soar in the blimp over the city. A well placed display of dirigibles and depression-era blimps accompanies the gondola.
Smartly, MAPS was able to borrow from the McKinley Museum (past entry, museum web) a 1908 Martin Glider (see left, click to enlarge), which hangs, almost beckoning, from rafters of the hangar. Having been to the McKinley Museum on several occasions over the past decade, I have never seen nor even a hinting that there was such a craft in their archives. A letter from the mayor of Canton and a few choice photos, including one showing the glider being towed by 1900’s automobile, accompany the display.
A room off the hangar, titled Gallery of Heroes offers static displays of historic artifacts and models of the aviation history with a focus on Northeast Ohio. A
tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen features a Cleveland native member of the squad (see left, click to enlarge). One display of World War II bombers includes the paperwork and historic photos of an area airman. Another larger display pays tribute to soldiers from Northeast Ohio who have fallen during our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (see above right, click to enlarge)
But what has made MAPS a unique destination over the years are the special fly-ins they promote. For the past several years the Collings Bombers have spent a short week at the museum, offering walk-throughs and (expensive) public flights. 
It is one thing to walk around a B-17 bomber at Wright-Pat, but it is quite another to walk through one at MAPS, including a perilous tightrope across the bomb bay doors (see left, click to enlarge). Even with the bomb bay doors open, walking a mere 3 feet above the tarmac, it is an anxious shuffling along a floor barely wider than your foot! Inside the Gallery of Heroes one can find a display on bomber artifacts. (see above right, click to enlarge)
On this particular visit, a Ford Tri-Motor airliner (see left and also first photo in this essay, click to enlarge), originally built in 1929, spent a few days in town (video of flight at another location). Offering a reasonable flight experience ($60 compared to a World War II bomber flight experience costing over four times as much) but also the chance to get up close and personal, the Ford Tri-Motor was fresh off time with Hollywood as part of the filming for the summer blockbuster Public Enemies.
This particular bird, operated by Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), is the only one still flying, with less than 10 others in various states of flight-worthiness across the country. Lovingly restored after a windstorm had broken it into three sections in 1973, the Tri-motor conjures up memories for some Ohioans, as flight service from Put-in-Bay to the mainland used a Ford Tri-motor until a crash in the early 1970s. In its day, albeit 80 years ago, the “Tin Goose” was state of the art in comfort and class for air travel. (see above right, click to enlarge)
Thanks to MAPS, the history of flight is not just on display in hangars, but comes alive on the tarmac of a regional airport in the heart of the state where two brothers dreams took wing.
- J.
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