New Earhart museum set to open April 14

A grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting will be held at noon April 14, 2023, for the new Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport (K59) in Atchison, Kansas, the hometown of the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate our grand opening and welcome visitors of all ages to journey through Amelia Earhart’s trailblazing life as a world-renowned aviator, innovator, educator, and activist,” said Karen Seaberg, founder and president of the Atchison Amelia Earhart Foundation. “It is an honor to bring Amelia’s courageous and persevering legacy to life in her Atchison, Kansas, hometown where the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is dedicated to inspiring all generations in the pursuit of flight — and like Amelia, encouraging others to boldly pursue their dreams.”

Grand-opening weekend festivities include a pancake breakfast on April 15 hosted by the Boy Scouts, free family-friendly activities, include face painting and balloon artists, and on April 16, an RC Fly Jam, featuring radio-controlled airplanes.

The Museum

The centerpiece of the new museum is “Muriel,” the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft. Named after Earhart’s younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey, Muriel is identical to the plane Earhart flew on her final, fateful flight around the world, according to museum officials.

Surrounding Muriel are 14 interactive STEM and history storytelling exhibit areas that take visitors on an educational journey through Earhart’s life, from her growing up in Atchison to the height of her worldwide fame.

Among the many interactive museum experiences, visitors will have the opportunity to:

• Enter a full-scale replica of Muriel’s cockpit to experience Amelia’s perspective from her “cozy cubbyhole” and compare Amelia’s instrument panel to Garmin’s G1000 avionics suite
• Hear the roar of Amelia’s Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney R-1340 WASP engine, as well as see a modern Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan come to life
• Challenge their riveting skills to discover the precision required to forge the nearly 85,000 metal rivets that hold Muriel together
• Flip through Amelia’s digitized scrapbook to see stories of women who motivated her
• Create an avatar to try on Amelia’s career paths as a nurse, mechanic, pilot, and fashion designer
• Go “above the clouds” to explore how Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, relied on radio waves, a sextant, and quick calculations
• Turn on “Amelia’s guiding lights” to see how constellations helped Amelia navigate the night sky
• Trace 3D aircraft holograms through the history of flight from unmanned gliders and biplanes to jet engines and space travel
• Pilot a virtual reality recreation of Amelia’s historic 1932 transatlantic flight to try navigating obstacles she overcame to make history (this requires a ticket)
• Explore theories and cast votes on what happened to Amelia and Fred Noonan in July 1937 when their plane disappeared over the South Pacific.

Entry to the museum is:

• Adults $15 (plus tax) per person
• Seniors (60+) and Military $12 (plus tax) per person
• Children 4-12 $8 (plus tax) per person
• Children 3 and under Free
• Virtual Reality Flight $5 (plus tax) per person

Following the grand-opening weekend, the museum’s operating hours will be Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST (last museum entry at 4 p.m.) and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. CST (last Museum entry at 4 p.m.).

Pilots flying in to visit the museum can tie down planes free of charge on concrete or in the grass. To coordinate arrivals, contact the FBO at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport (K59) at 913-426-4545 or email k59airport@gmail.com.