EAA Museum (Oshkosh) vs. Air Zoo (Kalamazoo)

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Kevin Eggert

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For those who have been to both, how do they compare. I live about 30 miles from Oshkosh so have been to the museum there several times. It is great and has plenty to see for both me and my son. We were thinking abvout heading across the lake and checking out the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. Their website shows some pretty cool stuff and I've never seen an SR-71 up close. I was just sort of curious what those who have been to both think as far as how they compare. Any comments are appreciated.
 
I haven't been to the Air Zoo, so can't answer your question... but being POA I can hyjack the thread and say that for a similar flight legnth, I would consider going to the Wright Patterson Airforce Museum instead.
 
I live near The USAF Museum and worked at WPAFB many years. I highly recommend it.

i’ve also have contributed to the Air Zoo (but have never been there). I doubt they have anything like the four massive hangars at WPAFB.

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

Cheers
 
Can't fly into Wright Patt, it's an active Air Force Base. You've got to fly into one of the other local airports and get ground transportation. The Air Zoo is right at the Kalamazoo airport, I do believe. Haven't been there myself. Yet.
 
Maybe my son and I will make a longer trip of it and hit both. After looking at the USAF museum website, it definitely looks like a cool place to check out. If anyone has any insight on the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, I'm still looking for some thoughts.
 
Been to all 3. Wright-Pat is several orders of magnitude more interesting than either of the other two. Answering the orignal question, I would go Air Zoo over EAA, especially if you've been to EAA before. Air Zoo is well worth the trip around (or over) the lake. Have fun!

Jim

PS- Wright-Pat is ideally a 2-day adventure. The other two are probably a good half-day wander-around.
 
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I'd say they're about equal, EAA v Air Zoo. I think we did the Air Zoo in half a day. My favorite part of the Air Zoo was the Flight Discovery Center part where you could see the restorations in progress. It was a rainy day so I didn't get to walk through the outdoor aircraft area. Can't beat free entrance as an EAA member.
I drooled over the SR-71 as I'd never seen one in person.
 
If you want a much longer X/C come down to Georgia and visit the Aviation museum here just south of Macon, GA. They have an SR71 and tons more...all free. Great modern building, vietnam era building WWII era building.

https://museumofaviation.org/
 
I've been to the AirZoo several times, as I'm not far away. There's a very strong military theme, overall. They do have a couple unique airplanes there, along with several helicopters - but it is much smaller than WPAFB or Oshkosh. There's the 'old museum' building close to the runways at AZO (you can taxi right up to it), with some interesting aircraft engines (at least to a mechanical engineer), as well as the restoration area. This is pretty much like a traditional airplane museum.
The 'new building' (about a 1-block walk) has very much an amusement park feel to it - I guess they wanted to add more 'kid friendly' stuff - ? That's where you'll find the SR-71, and (what I think is more interesting, the "Curtiss Ascender" - a real one-of-a-kind!). There's a cafe in this building, as well as several fast-food places within a 1/2 mile or so.
(I could share some pictures, if I can find them again - )
 
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