The Florida Air Museum on the Sun ‘n Fun campus on Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL) has received a $30,000 grant that will be used to build facilities to support its aircraft restoration and preservation activities.
The grant, awarded by the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust, will be used to enhance existing facilities at the museum’s Emil Buehler Restoration Skills Center.
“This generous grant will permit expanded restoration capabilities by the Florida Air Museum in the management of its collection and, at the same time, increase the instructional content of workshops offered by the museum throughout the year and during the annual Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In & Expo,” said President John Burton. “Equally important is that the Buehler grant will broaden the hands-on curriculum available to students enrolled in the Central Florida Aerospace Academy (CFAA).”
CFAA is a pre-engineering, aerospace and avionics preparatory career academy administered by Kathleen High School and the Polk County School System, which is located on the Sun ‘n Fun campus adjacent to the Buehler Restoration Skills Center.
The grant will underwrite the design and construction of a professional, environmentally friendly, 900-square-foot paint booth. The paint booth will include a highly specialized and professionally rated air compressor.
The Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust was established in 1984 to perpetuate the memory of Emil Buehler and his commitment to aviation science and technology. A German immigrant to the United States, Buehler was a pioneer in aeronautics as well as a designer of buildings. He was actively involved in many of the significant aviation events that took place in New Jersey in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His involvement in aviation eventually included funding of a wind tunnel for testing space vehicles that became known as the Emil Buehler Mach 3 wind tunnel.
For more information: Sun-n-Fun.org or 863–644–2431.
