NAMPA, Idaho — A replica of Evel Knievel’s Skycycle X-2 will soon join the collection at The Spirit of Flight Foundation Museum.
“There are a lot of folks that know about Evel’s attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974,” said Gordon Page, president of the Spirit of Flight Foundation.
A replica of Evel Knievel’s Skycycle X-2 was built in 2015 by Creative Arts for their TV series titled “Museum Men,” a TV show based on the “behind the scenes goings on” of a company that builds museum exhibits. Creative Arts Unlimited produces historically precise displays for museums, hospitals, libraries, businesses and towns. The installation of the Skycycle X-2 replica was filmed at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation where it has been on display since the airing of the show.
“The Skycycle X-2 has been a big hit at our Tennessee Museum of Aviation since arrived, but it’s a long way from where the original launched in Twin Falls, Idaho,” said Neal Melton, president of the Tennessee Museum of Aviation.
The original Skycycle X-2 launch took place at the south rim of the Snake River Canyon, west of Shoshone Falls, on Sept. 8, 1974. The steam that powered the engine was superheated to a temperature of 500°F. The drogue parachute prematurely deployed as the Skycycle left the launching rail and induced significant drag.
Even though the craft made it all the way across the canyon to the north rim, the prevailing northwest winds caused it to drift back into the canyon. By the time it hit the bottom of the canyon, it landed only a few feet from the water on the same side of the canyon from which it had been launched.
If he had landed in the water, Knievel said that he would have drowned, due to a harness malfunction which kept him strapped in the vehicle. As it was, Evel survived the failed jump with only minor injuries.
“I have stood on the top of the launch site in Twin Falls,” said Page. “It’s overwhelming to look across the canyon and think about being in a 16-foot-long steam-powered rocket,” he added. “I can’t even imagine what was going though Evel’s mind at the time.”
The Spirit of Flight Foundation was gearing up to build a replica Skycycle X-2 when officials heard about the replica Skycycle X-2 at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation.
“I called the museum and floated the idea of a trade,” said Page. “Fortunately, the founders of the museum liked the idea of sending the Skycycle to Idaho.”
Spirit of Flight will transport the Skycycle X-2 from Tennessee to Nampa, Idaho, in June 2025, and plan to have it on display at the 17th Annual Spirit of Flight Day on Saturday, July 12, 2025.
“I look at a poster of the Snake River Canyon jump that hangs in my office every day,” said Gordon Page. “I can’t wait to look at the Skycycle X-2 every day when it’s in the Spirit of Flight museum. We are incredibly grateful to the Tennessee Museum of Aviation for making that happen,” he added.
For more information: SpiritOfFlight.org, TNAirMmuseum.com
The Evel Knievel Museum in Las Vegas is still under construction. No opening date has yet to be made.