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Centennial of flight gives students
learning opportunity
    
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[JULY 25, 2003]  Some students started their summer back in the classroom. Only this time the classrooms were an airport hangar, an airplane and the upstairs meeting room of the Logan County Airport. The students were putting their classical education to work in practical applications in the field of aeronautics.

Heritage in Flight Museum, located at Logan County Airport, Lincoln, received a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of the airplane. This grant was used to develop a workshop to acquaint students with the history of aviation and the advancement of aviation during the past 100 years.

The workshop’s emphasis was on student activities. The students performed experiments with paper airplanes and model airplanes, illustrating the principles of flight, and prepared displays that explained the principles discovered.

The workshop June 16-20 met from 1 until 4 each afternoon in HIF’s hangar.

On Monday, HIF member Rick Nagel used his Stinson airplane to explain the function of the parts on a modern airplane and how these parts relate to the methods of controlling an airplane that were invented by the Wright brothers in 1903. Naugel also showed the students an HIF patch and the letter of authenticity that indicates astronaut Scott Altman carried the patch to the moon.

On Tuesday, the improvements in propeller-driven airplanes through the first 50 years of aviation were considered, and students were given an introductory flight by certified flight instructor Barry Miller.

Wednesday was devoted to flying model aircraft brought to the airport by the Lincolnland Air Show Team, which is sponsored by the Academy of Model Aeronautics.

On Thursday, participants studied
jet- and rocket-driven aircraft.

 

 

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Friday’s session started with a briefing on the Apollo 11 Saturn mission, which put the first man on the moon, and finished with a closing ceremony that featured a re-enactment of the first flight to the moon.

The student performance of the re-enactment of the trip to the moon initiated the closing ceremony. On the trip to the moon, Lincoln students Samantha Lambros, Kelsie Plummer and Casey Ritchhart played the roles of the Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. On the trip from the moon to the Earth, Lincoln students Brandon Bacon and Arie Mikesell and Forest City student Scott Warner took over the roles of the Apollo 11 crew. Farmer City student Patrick Webb had a conflict and was not able to make the flight.

Brennan Boss of Lincoln was in charge of flight preparations and astronaut recovery, Logan Mikesell of Lincoln was in charge of Mission Control, and Keith Underkoffler of Bloomington was in charge of the re-enactment production. Keith played his guitar while Logan sang a song he had composed, called "Apollo 11 and Beyond."

During the last hour of the closing ceremony, the students and some parents watched a video about space shuttles and the International Space Station. A poll of the students indicated that they would like to not only make a flight to the moon but also participate in the next big space adventure, which is a flight to Mars.

HIF members Marvin Boss and William Gobelman served as resource personnel for the workshop.

[Milt Underkoffler, educational coordinator, Heritage in Flight Museum]


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