Our models go back to the early days of flight, even before the Wright Brothers. One very interesting collection of models was made by Art Brockhurst and shows John J. Montgomery's gliders without their skin. Montgomery made the first sustained glider flight in North America in 1883, although there were no witnesses to this. 

Three of the Montgomery Models, including the one in which he died (bottom).

This intricate model of the Navy's first aircraft, the Curtiss A-1 Triad, was marked as "FIC" which means found in collection, which is a designation that an artifact receives when the provenance of it can't be clearly established. 

We flew our Curtiss A-1 Triad in 2011 for the 100 year anniversary of Naval Aviation. Looks just like the model! 

In 1896 Octave Chanute built a 12 winged glider and flew the contraption on the shores of Lake Michigan at Miller Beach, Indiana. Not only do we have a model diorama depicting the flight, it contains actual sand from Miller Beach....and its source is Octave Chanute's grandson! 

The Wright Brothers studied Chanute's glider. Mostly to learn what NOT to do!  

Our collection includes some of the lesser known preworld World War One aircraft that look crude, but were revolutionary in their time. 

A.V. Roe Triplane IV (AVRO IV Triplane) was a early 20th centruy British aircraft, first flown 1910. It was designed by Alliot Verdon Roe.

Albert Santos-Dumont built a series of aircraft he called Demoiselle that made waves in the air over France.

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