Iowa Aviation Museum eager for an exciting season

Greg Schildberg and Jim Stalder were up on ladders inside the hangar at the Iowa Aviation Museum Friday, April 1, checking light bulbs. They and others are eager to visit with guests now that the museum season is open.

Schildberg, whose parents inspired the start of the museum, is its current president. His wife, Kris, is heavily involved in running the museum. Stalder is a volunteer there.

“COVID is over, hopefully. Hopefully we will see people get out and move a little bit,” Schildberg said. “We saw people start to [get out] a little more last year toward the tail end of the season, but it was pretty slow. This year we don’t know what to expect. With fuel prices what they are it’s going to be interesting to see how that’s going to play out.”

The aviation museum has several aircraft and many stories of pilots from all over Iowa.

Among the collection is the first airplane Greg’s father, John, owned, which is a Piper Cub.

“He kept collecting antique airplanes all the way from the 40s to about 1980,” Schildberg said. “I used to fly with him when I was a little kid. He gave me my first airplane when I was 13 years old, and I’m still building it. It was a pile of bones and I have it over in one of the hangars.”

Schildberg said it’s fun to see people come in and get the aviation bug like he did when he was a child. Many people visit the museum who say they have family ties to a certain pilot featured in the museum or remember an event that is featured.

“It’s great to see people can enjoy all three parts of this. There’s the front part that is a chronological walk-through of Iowa aviation history. There’s this room, which is mostly aircraft and aircraft engines. The hall of fame room is in the back, and we’ve been collecting stories from Iowans for years. We have like 800 stories now,” Schildberg said. “Families can come in and find out about what their loved one did in aviation history and feel really good about it. That’s the most enjoyable part of it — seeing those faces light up.”

On the Adair County construction schedule for this summer is the paving of Airport Road, which leads to the museum. Schildberg is also hopeful city water can be relayed to the museum soon. Both are anticipated to be major improvements for the museum.

“Especially the motorcycle riders who go out to see the Freedom Rock, they were involved in Vietnam or Iraq, and they hesitate to come here because the rock because they don’t want to get their motorcycles dusty. The people with convertibles or car clubs don’t’ want to come out and get them dusty,” Schildberg said. “Once that’s done we should be able to have a lot more people out here.”

The Iowa Aviation Museum will be open through November. They may be visited online at www.flyingmuseum.com.