Combat Air Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Combat Air Museum

Overview of Hangar 602
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Location	Forbes Field Airport 7016 SE Forbes Avenue Topeka, Kansas 66619 United States
Type	Aviation museum

The Combat Air Museum is a non profit aviation museum at Topeka Regional Airport in Williamsport Township, Shawnee County, near Topeka, Kansas. The museum is dedicated to the creation of facilities and resources for the education of the local and regional communities through the collection, preservation, conservation and exhibition of aircraft, information, artifacts, technology and art associated with the military aviation history of the United States.

The Museum and the Airport

Topeka Regional Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located six miles (10 km) south of the central business district of Topeka.

Topeka Regional Airport is owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority (MTAA). The Museum rents two hangars from the MTAA. It is one of a handful of major aviation museums in the United States located on an active air field.

Topeka Regional Airport, formerly Forbes Air Force Base, is home to Forbes Air National Guard Base and the 190th Air Refueling Wing (190 ARW) of the Kansas Air National Guard, the 1st Battalion, 108th Aviation Regiment of the Kansas Army National Guard, and other private commercial operators.

Visitors to the Museum are regularly treated to flying activities of Air Force tanker and fighter aircraft and Army helicopter operations. With the second longest runway in the State of Kansas, large refueling tanker aircraft of the Air National Guard and army troop transports often fill the skies around the Museum.

History

In the autumn of 1976, the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas organized as a wing of Yesterday's Air Force (YAF) (of David Tallichet). In 1979, the group reorganized as "Combat Air Museum," relocating to Forbes Field Hangar #602.

Exhibits

EC-121T in March 2014

F3D-2 in March 2014

C-47D in March 2014

Today, the Museum has 42 aircraft, mostly military (mostly American), representing World War I to the present day (especially jets from the 1950s to the 1980s), plus various aircraft engines, military vehicles and other military displays. Interestingly, the Museum has the largest collection of WWI replica planes in any Midwest museum facility.

Aircraft

Nearly all of the museum's aircraft are U.S. military aircraft (with a few foreign military aircraft). Some are military versions of civilian airplanes, or civilian planes used for military purposes. According to the Museum's website, as retrieved in April 2015, the Museum has these aircraft:

World War I

World War II

Cold War

Helicopters

Drones