Soaring through history: Aviation City opens in Charlotte’s Sullenberger Museum
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Aviation City at Sullenberger Museum features historic planes and real-time CLT flights.
- Douglas DC-3 highlights WWII service and Piedmont Airlines’ legacy in Charlotte.
- Museum reopened in 2024 with new exhibits, drawing over 1,000 visitors opening weekend.
At the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, Terry and Glenda Billings watched their 2-year-old grandson Devin touch miniature planes on an interactive screen displaying real-time flights at Charlotte’s airport.
He also enjoyed sitting in a real plane inside the museum’s Aviation City. Opened in late May, Aviation City is the museum’s newest gallery and now home to an historic Douglas DC-3 plane and other aircraft.
That DC-3 was previously parked on a runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport while renovations took place at the museum. “I think it’s really great for all ages,” Glenda said while holding Devin. “He loves it. He’s playing with the planes.”
Aviation City allows visitors to step back in time and learn about the airport’s growth. The exhibits are inside a hangar built in the 1930s near an active airfield where planes can be heard taking off and landing. It’s the oldest structure on airport property, according to the museum.
Some of the history includes airport land that was once used by the U.S. Army for Morris Field during World War II.
CLT became Charlotte Army Air Base in April 1941, just months before the war, according to museum historians. It was used to train pilots and the aircrew members.
After the U.S. Army Corps took control of the airport and expanded two of the runways, the base was renamed in honor of Maj. William Morris, a World War I pilot from Harrisburg.
At the museum, a peephole and headphones allow visitors to see and hear an old air raid siren used on Morris Field.
Ashton Meyer of Nebraska enjoyed seeing the older planes during his visit.
“I think it’s really cool, especially from the 1900s and seeing the explosion of growth with all these planes,” Meyer said. “I really enjoy seeing how the need for transportation and defense led to humans creating these things, controlling the skies.”
Storing history in Charlotte aviation museum
Among the older planes that captivate visitors like Meyer is the historically significant Douglas DC-3 aircraft, whose story reflects a pivotal era in air travel.
The aircraft, built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, is from a time when air travel became more accessible to people. It was a WW II aircraft used to carry cargo and troops.
After the war, its use transitioned to a commercial plane for business with a history connected to Piedmont Airlines, which eventually became American Airlines after a series of mergers. CLT was a major hub for Piedmont, and today Charlotte is the second-largest hub for American.
“It’s really a legacy story and we’re really excited to have it here,” said Katie Swaringen, vice president of collections at the museum.
Air travel was significantly different in those days. Today the average commercial plane can hold hundreds of passengers. The DC-3 could only hold 21 in its heyday.
“It was a very different experience in commercial flight today,” Swaringen said. “In some ways, it was romanticized as a better time to fly.”
The airport and the Wilson Air Center assisted with the outdoor storage process.
“One of the things that we were really challenged with was wanting to keep this plane in as good of condition as possible,” Swaringen said.
It has fabric control surfaces, which were used on older planes. The movable parts of the wing or tail were covered in stretched fabric, which was designed to change the airflow and steer the aircraft. The museum worked with American Airlines mechanics to remove those control surfaces.
Flying Through ‘The City’
Along with the DC-3, some of the other planes displayed inside the hangar include the Stearman biplane, used to train WWII pilots; an F-84 Thunderjet; and a Lockheed T-33, a jet trainer built in the 1950s in which visitors can sit inside the cockpit.
Some of the other exhibits include beacons and airfield lights originally used by the airport, military aviation education, the North Carolina Air National Guard at CLT and famous aviators who performed at airshows in the Charlotte area.
The end of the exhibit includes a touchscreen display showing flights at CLT in real time. The screen displays aircraft arriving that can be heard inside the building. Air traffic control can also be heard talking to pilots and announcing flights.
“I think it made this campus feel a lot bigger,” Swaringen said about Aviation City.
More on the Sullenberger Aviation Museum
The Sullenberger Aviation Museum reopened in June 2024 after closing in 2019. It was renamed in honor of former U.S. Airways airline pilot Capt. C.B. “Sully” Sullenberger.
On Jan. 15, 2009, Sullenberger and his crew landed Flight 1549 safely in New York’s Hudson River after a flock of geese struck both engines. The passengers and crew all survived the landing. The “Miracle on the Hudson” plane had taken off from LaGuardia Airport and was headed for Charlotte.
On some Saturdays from 1 to 2 p.m., passengers who were on the flight come to the museum to share their experience with visitors.
About 12 volunteers from the flight are participating in the program, with a speaker rotating every month. The upcoming passenger talks include Vicki Barnhart (who was seated in seat 26 C) on July 26 and Michael Leonard (seat 12 C) on Aug. 9.
Watching the Miracle on the Hudson landing
Terry Billings received tickets as a Father’s Day gift from his son and daughter-in-law. He said the museum was an amazing experience, and watching a video about the Hudson landing was overwhelmingly emotional.
“We didn’t know what to expect when we came here,” he said. “We wanted to see the U.S. Airways plane that landed in the Hudson. But there are so many interactive exhibits like this one, and being able to sit with the air simulators and in the cockpits of some of the aircraft, it’s just been amazing.
“I would recommend this for anyone.”
The facility is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. The Charlotte museum was opened in 1992 by aviation enthusiasts who wanted to restore and display historic aircraft.
More than 1,000 people visited the museum during the opening weekend, and the count has been steady since then. The museum is expecting a busy summer with youth camps.
The other main galleries are Aviation Society, dedicated to people contributing to the aviation industry locally and globally; and Innovation Nation, with a focus on technology.
For more information about the museum, visit sullenbergeraviation.org.
