Completing the I-65 corridor of Alabama aviation history

On March 26, 1910, Orville Wright soared above the cotton fields west of Montgomery. It was the first flight of an airplane in Alabama and one of the first few flights in the world.

On March 26, 2010, a group of dedicated aviation buffs, headed by Floyd McGowin Jr. of Chapman will dedicate The Wright Brothers/Maxwell Field Museum, a new educational institution to commemorate the history of aviation in Alabama and to inspire the future of aviation.

The site selected by the Wright brothers as the nation's first civilian flying school has developed throughout the past century to become Maxwell Air Force Base, home of the Air University, the Civil Air Patrol, and almost 30 professional military schools.

McGowin believes the new museum will become a huge tourism destination along heavily-traveled Interstate 65, connecting the U. S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville and the Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, completing an aviation heritage trail that will highlight Alabama's contributions to flight...all the way from the dawn of powered flight to manned space flight.

The centerpiece of the museum will be an exact reproduction of the Wright Flyer (circa 1909-1911) used by the Wright Brothers, who established the world's first civil aviation school in Montgomery. The aircraft, valued at more than $1.5 million, will be donated to the museum by the Discovery of Flight Foundation. Several other vintage aircraft once were common sights flying over our skies, will also be on display.

These include a rare Curtiss JN-4D Jenny (which flew at Taylor Field in Montgomery in World War I), a Boeing Stearman PT-17, a Vultee BT-13; and a North American AT-6. Each of these planes served significant roles in the flight training programs at Maxwell and Gunter Fields during the Second World War.

"This is going to be a world-class museum," said McGowin, a member of the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame and also a member of one of the state's most prominent business families. (His grandfather, father and other family members helped make W.T. Smith Lumber Company the state's largest and best known timber and lumber business)....