A collection of lighter-than-air museums

Lighter-than-air History

by Glen Moyer

If you're in the hunt for historic lighter than air fun, you need not plan a trip to Indianola, South Dakota, Albuquerque or Washington, D.C. Often you may find a treasure trove of artifacts, memorabilia and documents right under your nose. All sorts of aviation museums abound around the world, and you may be surprised to find lighter-than-air exhibits in many of them, some where you may least expect it!

National Museum of Naval Aviation

This museum is home to more than 100 diverse aircraft among its many exhibits. These range from the NC-4 Flying Boat (first plane to cross the Atlantic) to a TBM Avenger (like that flown by President Bush) and the F-14 Tomcat (Calling All Tom Cruise fans!). But long before they had wings, naval aviators flew some of the most modern dirigibles of their day. The Los Angeles, the Macon and the Akron were among them. Hung high above from the museum's ceiling is a gondola from this earliest age of naval aviation.

The museum is located aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola in northwest Florida. Admission is free 9-5 daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. For information, call (904) 452-3604.

United States Air Force Museum

If our Special Report on World War One ballooning (Balloon Life, January, 1991) got your attention, then this is the museum for you. Among the many exhibits here is the only existing example of a WW1 Cacquot balloon. Here you'll also find gondolas that document some of the Air Force's first high altitude research conducted by balloon. Among the exhibits, the Stargazer gondola flown by then Captain Joe Kittinger to an altitude of 82,000 feet on December 13-14, 1962.

This museum is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. For more information, call (513) 255-3284.

Frontiers of Flight Museum

One of the best kept secrets in Texas for years (see The Best Little Aviation Museum in Texas, Balloon Life, December 1986), this museum is now the newest cultural hot spot in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Relocation from the University of Texas at Dallas to Love Field Airport has allowed a vast expansion now covering 6,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The museum's claim to fame is the Admiral Rosendahl collection, the finest collection of artifacts and memorabilia relating to dirigibles in the world. The visitor here can see a set of Hindenburg china, the 200-pound radio that was carried aboard the USS Los Angeles, and a set of molds used to fashion chocolate Zeppelins.

For balloon fans there is also a vast collection of medals including those struck in 1784 to commemorate the first Montgolfier and Roziere flights. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call (214) 350-3600.

Forbes Musée des Ballons

This is the first museum anywhere to be fully devoted to ballooning. Housed in what were the two-story stables of the original Chateau de Balleroy, site of the world famous Forbes balloon meet, the museum is a must for any lighter-than-air devotee journeying anywhere near Normandy, France. Among the exhibits is the original Chateau de Balleroy balloon which the late Malcolm Forbes flew across the United States in 1973. There is also the basket (a curved piece of plywood) and the burner used by Ed Yost and Don Piccard on their historic flight across the English Channel a decade earlier.

While the museum houses many modern ballooning artifacts its historical collections are also significantamong them, a collection of porcelain plates depicting major balloon flights from 1783 to 1814.

Musée de l'Air

Located in Paris, France, this museum's collection spans all types of aviation but its balloon collection is well worth the visit. Among its holdings is the Charles Dollfus collection of ceramics, furniture and decorative objects all adorned in the balloon motif. Without question, its most famous artifact however is the original gondola from the December 1, 1783 flight of Jacques-Alexander Charles, arguably the most prized ballooning artifact in the world.

Musée d'Annonay

Home of the Montgolfier brothers, this charming city in southern France is a museum unto itself. Here you can visit the city square where the Montgolfier's balloon was first publicly demonstrated. At the city's museum, called simply the Musée d'Annonay are oil portraits of the town's most famous residents. The visitor here will also see two canvas panels labeled as fragments of the original 1783 balloon, however some residents question their authenticity, suggesting the fragments are from a replica built for a celebration in 1933 instead.