Southwestern Electric Power Company, on behalf of the American Electric Power Foundation, recently gifted the Arkansas Air and Military Museum $15,000 to help support the nonprofit’s latest project – the “Theory of Flight” exhibit.

The museum, located at Drake Field in Fayetteville, Ark., is open to the public and features displays of aircraft, aviation artifacts and military memorabilia from the earlier period to the present. Another aspect of the museum is to help educate the public and create interest in aviation, especially for future generations. That’s the idea behind the Theory of Flight exhibit, said Gus Kuklinski, who serves as Treasurer on the museum’s Board of Directors Executive Committee.

“The Theory of Flight is a sequential exhibit,” he said. “The whole idea is for you to learn what makes a plane fly and then actually fly in a flight simulator.”

Through an interactive touchscreen kiosk, visitors will learn different concepts about what creates lift to make an airplane fly. Next, they’ll visit a custom-built wind tunnel where they can learn how to measure lift of an airfoil (the body of a plane), change velocity and other factors that affect the lift of the airfoil. Once they learn those basics, they’ll “fly” an airplane around Drake Field airport using the latest Microsoft flight simulator software while seated in a cockpit complete with the chassis, seat, rudder pedals and yoke (a plane’s “steering wheel”).

“Especially in times of COVID, we rely on donations like this to be able to do the extra stuff that we think not only will bring people in but also provide a STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) exhibit for kids,” Kuklinski said. “We hope this exhibit will create an interest in aviation with the kids and maybe it will help gravitate them into the aviation industry, whether in the service or the private sector.”

The kiosk and flight simulator are complete; however, the wind tunnel will take a little while longer to create due to the complexity of the project, Kuklinski said. The full exhibit is expected to be ready for the public in the fall.

“The Arkansas Air and Military Museum is a great place to not only see the history of aviation on display but also to help educate the public,” said Bradley Hardin, SWEPCO External Affairs and Government Affairs manager. “We are proud to be a part of this innovative exhibit that will help generate more interest in aviation for future generations.” 

Museum Director Laci Prince said she’s excited to add the latest exhibit to help bring in more visitors, which is primarily how the museum keeps the doors open.

“Most people are super excited to see the C-130, but we’re hoping the new flight simulator will actually be something that will help us grab people’s attention,” she said. “It’s going to be awesome for our museum to have something like this.”

To learn more about the Arkansas Air and Military Museum, visit arkansasairandmilitary.com.