Kalamazoo Air Zoo - Nov. ‘96 Aviation History Feature

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The Kalamazoo ‘Air Zoo’ airplane collection features several lively aerial ‘animals’ and plenty more.

By Ed Nowak and Gerard Pahl

A small aviation museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was incorporated in 1977 with the express purpose of “preserving the legacy of World War II aviation, for the restoration and display of WWII aircraft, both flying and static.” An additional purpose was to enhance the public’s knowledge about the history of WWII aviation and about the maintenance and operation of the planes of that era. The Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum has grown in size over the past 20 years, and its mission has expanded to include military aircraft from all eras. What began as a collection of seven vintage airplanes has matured into an array of more than 45 classic aircraft. The aircraft are displayed in 43,000 square feet of exhibition space (only 20­28 aircraft can be displayed at any one time), with an additional 12­15 planes in the new Flight/Restoration Center.

The Kalamazoo “Air Zoo” derived its nickname from the animal-named aircraft that formed the nucleus of its collection in the early years: the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, the Douglas C-47 “Gooneybird,” and three Grumman “cats,” the FM2/F4F Wildcat, the F8F Bearcat and the F6F Hellcat. The museum has gained a reputation for a quality of restoration seen in few other museums in the United States. Honorary Flying Tiger Don Lopez, deputy director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM), has commented that he has “never seen any airplanes, anywhere, better maintained than at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.”

Jack Hilliard, now with the San Diego Air and Space Museum and formerly curator of the U.S. Air Force Museum, wrote that the Kalamazoo Air Zoo is “the premier flying collection in the country from our point of view.” And though these testimonials hearten the staff and volunteers at the Air Zoo, the comments of ordinary visitors to the museum are what mean the most. Many of them quite favorably compare the museum to the NASM, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and the U.S. Air Force Museum. The Air Zoo is not as large as those other museums, but the same love and devotion to the exhibits is apparent.

The Air Zoo has kept up its remarkable level of quality in restoring aircraft such as the award-winning Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, the North American B-25 Mitchell and the Grumman F7F Tigercat.

The P-47 that is owned by the Kalamazoo Air Zoo never saw combat but became part of the Peruvian Air Force after WWII. It was recovered by Ed Jusist of Vintage Aircraft International Inc., who tells a story that includes a poisoning, a kidnapping and his skin-of-the-teeth escape from the South American country. Another from-the-ground-up rebuild completed by the early museum staff was the inverted gull-wing FG-1D Corsair, Goodyear’s version of the famous Chance-Vought fighter.

The museum’s Mitchell spent little time overseas during World War II, but it has been painted to represent a similar bomber flown by the “Air Apaches” in the South Pacific. The 345th Bombardment Group of the Fifth Air Force was known by that nickname because its men and bombers went on a warpath across the Pacific. As with the P-47, the Mitchell’s life involved a bit of cloak and dagger, with rumor suggesting it had been used for smuggling contraband from South America into the United States.

The Tigercat is one of only about 10 existing in the world today, but several F7Fs are being restored, so this number should grow. Although it never saw combat during World War II, the Tigercat was used on photoreconnaissance missions in Korea. Later it went through its nine lives in several types of civilian operations, including one in which it was used as a fire bomber.

The Air Zoo’s restoration crew is not totally absorbed by the refurbishment of well-known WWII combat planes, though. Recently, one of the restoration staff members, assisted by a dozen or more volunteers, rebuilt a Laister Kauffmann TG-4A glider trainer. They are now deeply involved in restoring a very rare Waco CG-4A glider like the ones used in the 1944 D-Day invasion. Another group is involved in restoring one of the most important aircraft in WWII history, a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber, on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation. This airplane had been on the bottom of Lake Michigan for 50 years.

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