Trying To Make Life Hard: Chanute Air Museum

Last week, my grandparents from New Jersey visited us for a couple of days. I took off work, and we sought out fun things to do that we don't do often, or at all.

On Tuesday, I decided we should investigate the Chanute Air Museum in Rantoul. I know the museum has been around for several years and it sounded neat. We've just never visited. While visiting their website, I was surprised by how many aircraft they actually have on display. I assumed they had a few small craft, and perhaps one large "showcase" plane. However, by my count, they have 42 aircraft on display!

The museum is located in one of the original hangar buildings at the former airbase. Admission is a reasonable $10 for adults, $5 for kids (5+). Kids under 4 are free (great for the Ashbrooks).

First, you wind your way through two long hallways of rooms that have a number of exhibits about the history of the airbase (first built in 1923, I believe), life on the airbase, general military aviation, etc. They have one whole hallway wall of pictures from throughout the years. I found that the most interesting. The kids weren't crazy about this area, but I didn't expect them to. Near the end of this area, they have a room full of old Frasca flight simulators. While it was interesting to see the electro-mechanicals of these 50 (?) year old beasts, there was little to no information in this room, beyond model numbers. As an engineer, I would have at least expected production years and a few factoids.

Finally, we made our way out into the main hangar where most of the planes are located. The planes are all nicely lined up and roped off. They each have a sign or two in front of them describing the particular model, and also the particular plane that's on display. This was interesting, but you couldn't get too close to most of them. There were no hands-on displays for the kids to get up close and personal with the planes, or look inside the cockpits. They are currently restoring a very old F-15 (early 70s?), so that had some interesting information about the restoration.

The kids (with me being drug slowly behind) quickly made their way outside to the large planes. Among the planes outside are a large Navy WV-2 reconnaissance plane, a C-130 cargo plane, a huge C-133 cargo plane, and the only remaing XB-47 (which I thought was particularly cool). These planes are very impressive because of their size. Unfortunately, there still isn't any information beyond a small sign for each. It would definitely be neat to see inside these planes, especially the cargo planes. Sadly, these planes look to be quickly deteriorating because of the weather. I think the museum is historically underfunded.

Finally, we went back inside to see a few more planes, including a B-58 supersonic bomber. This plane is in excellent condition. It would be nice to see the inside. Interestingly, my grandfather (a fellow UI electrical engineering alum) remembers designing antennas for this plane that never quite made the final cut. They are also restoring a B-25. That had a gangway alongside so that you could see into the currently gutted cockpit. They also have pieces of ICBM silos inside that were used for training ICBM crews. They didn't have much information on those though.

All told, we spent a couple of hours at the museum. It wasn't great for the little kids. I thought it was worth the trip for the engineers in the crowd. However, the museum could definitely use a lot of improvements in the plane area to make it more than a display of old planes. I'm sure I'll go again.

Here are a few (rainy) pictures: