Wings Over Miami event Saturday, November 1, 10 AM to 2 PM.

Wings Over Miami

 Kicks-off  Aviation History Month

(CLICK HERE to view complete & official info)

 

Saturday, November 1

10 to 2

Disney Studios makes a promotional stop

To celebrate their DVD release

of 

PLANES

FIRE & RESCUE

Children $3.00 ~ Adults $7.00

• See the Miami Dade Aviation foam fire truck and more
• Enjoy Disney Planes give-aways
• Register to win a Planes Fire & Rescue DVD
• Look at planes and meet Wings pilots
• Visit with WW2 veteran, Todd Silverman

What’s happening at the Wings Over Miami Air Museum? Feb 2014 updates

CLICK HERE to read the February 2014 edition of its e-updates, "The Flight Log" - current updates include:

Did you make it to the Fly-by-Wire event?

Veterans Dinner brought out WWII veterans

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Ros Lehtinen Honors WASP Fran Sargent

Don't forget the Ford Tri-motor

February 13th-16th at LandMark Aviation

_____________________________________

Wings Over Miami Air Museum is located at the Kendall - Tamiami Executive Airport

14710 SW 128th St

Miami, FL 33196

(305) 233-5197

Museum Hours

Wednesday - Sunday

10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Remember Fly- By - Wire model planes - Come see the model airplane demonstrations this Sat, Jan 25 - 10:30 AM to 4 PM

Its a family thing, not a political thing.  Weather (wind) permitting: Wings Over Miami Air Museum asks:

Are you old enough to remember the model airplanes before radio control planes?  

Come on out tomorrow, Saturday, January 25 and see Fly by Wire demonstrations There may be some "dog fights" as well as standard control wire flight.  CLICK HERE to view the entire e-mail blast with full information including times and admission rate:

 

Control-line flight is a type of model airplane flight which is not controlled by remote control, but by two 60-foot steel wires. This type of model was the type of hobby aircraft many of today's older adults grew up with and a type of aircraft that most of today's children have never seen fly.

The control-line flying will be featured from around 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the tarmac outside the Wings' hangar. Weather conditions determine whether we can fly the planes. Strong wind prevents the planes from flying without damage. 

There is an entry fee of $10 for individuals 13 and older for the museum and activities. Children ages 5 to 12 cost $5; children under 5 are free. Active annual memberships and veterans are also free.

Bring the family out. This is truly a unique event. The Wings Over Miami Air Museum is located on the grounds of the Kendall - Tamiami Executive Airport, 14710 SW 128th St, Miami, FL 33196, (305) 233-5197, Museum Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm 

Wings Over Miami: model airplane event - Jan 25, 2014

There is another interesting event to consider and put on your calendar: Remember Model Planes Flying on Wire? Now scheduled for January 25, 2014.

Wings Over Miami is planning a model airplane event with modeling, flying, and those good old planes that flew on a wire! Please contact them if you are interested in helping with the models or the other activities during the event. Take a look at the video... It is a blurry, but it is something special...

Wings Over Miami on Saturday, January 25 is going to circle off the ramp, they will put some of there real planes on the grass as well as doing some control line flying and R/C model crafting. Should be something that takes some of us back to our youth and allows everyone else have fun!

I recall days of heading out with my father to the old Tamiami Airport grounds to fly the .049 Cox U-Control planes.  My longest lasting was a P-19 model. I still have some old engines, but none of my old planes remain - and who knows if any of the old glow plugs still work?  And who among us went for it when starting the engines, rejecting the "starter sticks"?

For current info, follow Wings Over Miami Air Museum on Facebook (CLICK HERE)

Look to the sky this weekend. Wings Over Miami Special events may be visible.

Check out "The Flight Log", which provides details concerning upcoming special events at the Wings Over Miami Air Museum (WOM).     

Taken from the post: November 2013, This Weekend, November 16 and 17, Special Aircraft Guests at the Museum: If you happen to be looking up this weekend and see a warbird formation, you will not be imagining it.  

Wings Over Miami will be hosting some guests this weekend out at the hangar. Multiple members of the RedStar Pilots Association, along with some of our planes and pilot friends, have been invited to do fly-bys both days of the NASCAR races.   

On Saturday, around noon, the planes will be arriving to the museum. The pilots will be briefed and will prepare for the fly-bys prior to leaving each day.  The schedule for the fly-bys have not been announced as yet, but the pilots expect to leave the airport about 30 minutes prior to the race start on both days.   

AND NOTE! Any readers like me who while growing up, were hoping for a Cox control-line airplane for Christmas?  I had several along with the (non-controlled) Dune Buggy as well as the on the wire dragster (nailing the wire in the street or merely letting it run amok). 
For those who remember and enjoyed, there is another interesting event to consider and put on your calendar: Remember Model Planes Flying on Wire? Saturday, January 18, 2014

Scroll down to the bottom the "The Flight Log" at end, to read the teaser.  Wings Over Miami is planning a model airplane event with modeling, flying, and those good old planes that flew on a wire!

Please contact them if you are interested in helping with the models or the other activities during the event. 

Wow - I'm feeling it. I recall days of heading out with my father to the old Tamiami Airport grounds to fly the .049 Cox U-Control planes.  My longest lasting was a P-19 model. Just thinking of a term I haven't heard in a while - "glow plugs." I still have some old engines, but none of my old planes remain.  And who among us went for it when starting the engines, rejecting the "starter sticks"?

Look up in the sky! It's Wings Over Miami Air Museum providing 4th of July flyovers. See Community Newspapers | Cutler Bay

Fourth of July flyovers lift eyes toward S. Florida skies | Cutler Bay
Check out the full story (link immediately above).  Another good news story.

Look, up in the sky! It's a plane!
It's a bird!
It's a frog!
A frog?

Actually, it was a plane, or in this case three planes, not a bird or a frog or even underdog!

Three vintage warplanes flew courtesty of the pilots and members/staff of the Wings Over Miami Air Museum (WOM) to participate in the celebration of our national holiday.  The WOM celebrated July 4 differently this year. WOM opened its doors and invited the public to watch three of its planes take off for a series of flyovers timed to honor veterans at various community holiday events which included the Village of Key Biscayne, Palmetto Bay’s Mangowood community and its seventh annual flag-raising event and then the Cutler Bay festivity in Whispering Pines before returning to the museum ramp. Waiting at the hangar were visitors who greeted the returning pilots, peeked inside the planes and took many photos.  

Lucky were those in the flight path, including the participants of the three community events who were able to personally observe the flyovers.

Wings Over Miami has a group of skilled pilots and friends of the museum who are certified in formation flying and often fly together, mainly on weekends and for special events such as the Homestead Air Reserve Base air show. It takes many hours of practice to get the certification and requires a group of aircraft with equal flight capabilities to be able to participate in a formation flight. While most of the planes at the museum are air worthy, not all of them have the capacity to fly formation flights. While the normal military flyovers were grounded due to sequestration it was certainly great to see the museum’s warbirds fill the void left in the South Florida skies. More information about the museum may be found on the website at www.wingsovermiam.com

Disney partners with Wings Over Miami Air Museum - Sat. 8-3-13 Event. Bring your plane!

Disney has partnered with the Wings Over Miami Air Museum (WOM) and is opening the museum for a Free Admission Day on Saturday, August 3.

CLICK HERE to view event details.  Pilots are invited to Taxi Over or Fly-In to the Museum on this Saturday and share your plane with museum guests!

 

WOM says a little Aviation Show and Tell is a good thing! I agree. Bring your family and enjoy this Disney sponsored event.

Remember when the Eagle Landed? July 20, 1969 - Apollo 11 - Family event celebration at Wings Over Miami

I am sure that most of us are too young (or want to be) to remember the moonwalk. I do and I had the lunchbox to prove it!

Wings Over Miami Air Museum is giving Apollo a nod with it's weekend event.

This Saturday, July 20, out at the museum, they are doing some beginner rocket building, having solar viewing with Southern Cross and having the Nike Missile park rangers from Everglades National Park do a presentation.

The Nike Missile presentation runs about an hour and will include the history and current information about the Nike Base hidden inside the park boundaries.

Weather permitting, the Southern Cross volunteers with their solar telescopes will be out on the museum ramp for some safe solar viewing. Solar viewing is done with powerful telescopes which have filters to protect your eyes as you view the sun. To use the telescopes, the volunteers need sunshine and/or partly cloudy skies, so this weeks rain has got to go!

The museum has discounted the admission rates and warns that the rocket building class (8-12 year olds) will only hold 35 kids. There is a $2 materials fee (rocket kits run about $8 in the stores)  for the class on top of the $4 entry charge. The discounted entry is $7 for everyone over 12 years old. Veterans and active duty military are free.

Hope to see you there!

Wings Over Miami - July 4th Flyover - Event photos

Copyrighted photo by Allen Lubitz — at Wings Over Miami Air Museum

Thank you to the Museum - the directors, sponsors and the pilots who gave so generously on the Fourth of July holiday in providing a historic plane flyover for many local events including Village of Key Biscayne, Town of Cutler Bay and Mangowood HOA in Palmetto Bay.  Wings Over Miami Air Museum opened the day for those who wanted to greet the pilots and watch the planes take off for their morning holiday mission.  A trio of WWII era planes flew from the museum, later returning to the hangar where many curious and photographers had the opportunity for a close-up with several visiting planes that are not normally in the hangar.

Thank you Wings Over Miami for such a wonderful event as well as adding to many other community events.  Outstanding work!

Photo courtesy of Suzette Rice, Wings Over Miami Air Museum

Young photographer takes full advantage of the opportunities at the  Wings Over Miami Air Museum.

Have a Happy and safe July 4th weekend. Support and enjoy local events. Keep our pets safe!

July 4, 1776, the date we celebrate our independence from Britain and Democracy was born.  Please CLICK HERE to view the special July Fourth edition of the South Dade Updates e-blast for some listings of area celebrations. There are many great neighborhood and regional events going on so plan ahead, have fun and stay safe!

This is a holiday to celebrate, the day we celebrate the birth of our great nation, the creation of the greatest system of freedom and democracy. All of this occurred due to the great physical and financial sacrifice of the founders of this nation, the brave men and women of yesterday and today who have sacrificed so greatly to ensure the traditions bestowed by our remarkable founders. We owe them vigilance, and the willingness to defend the democracy they have passed on to us.

Independence Day has been celebrated since 1776.  But do you know the year that July 4 officially made a Federal Holiday?  Would you believe 1941? Check out the History.com page regarding July 4, for additional information.

Let us continue to look to a future that belongs to all of us - a future that ‘we, the people’ have the power to create.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday, and hope that the day’s happiness reminds us all of the importance of the Fourth of July. 

Let's not forget about our pets this holiday weekend. It Will Be a Stressful Evening For Them. Pets and fireworks don't mix. Plan now to keep your pet safe. CLICK HERE to view some simple pet safety tips posted on the July 4th South Dade Updates E-mail blast.

Celebrations will occur throughout our community – there are many neighborhood block parties and bike parades and picnics on the beaches and in parks. CLICK HERE to view the e-mail blast listing of some events in our area. Area events will include flyovers from area residents flying planes from the Wings Over Miami Air Museum. Start your July 4th with a quick visit to Wings Over Miami Air Museum to watch the planes take off for a morning flight. In celebration of July 4th, there will be a special admission discount. Of course, as always, active duty military and retirees enter for free.

Weather permitting (no rain allowed!), a trio of WWII era planes will be  leaving the museum at promptly 10:30 a.m. and will be returning to the hangar around 11:30 a.m. - these planes are single radial engine trainers.

The museum will open at 9:30 a.m., so once the pilots finish their pre-flight briefing, they will be available to meet and greet museum guests.  The museum will be closing early at  3:00 p.m. on the holiday.

Bring a camera for your opportunity for a close-up with several visiting planes that are not normally in the hangar. 

FIREWORKS SAFETY Please be smart if you plan on being your own pyrotechnician CLICK HERE and review the "Fireworks Safety" brochure put out by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s Fire Prevention Division. Have fun and be safe.

Happy Independence Day – 2013

Memorial Day weekend event this Saturday - Wings Over Miami Festival & Car Show

Looking for a local fun-filled event to do with your family in keeping with Memorial Day Weekend?  Make plans to attend the Memorial Day weekend event this Saturday - Memorial Day Weekend Music Festival and Car Show

Wings Over Miami Memorial Day Festival

Saturday, May 25, 2013

11 am to 5 pm

The museum will be full of great action on Memorial Day weekend! There is a car show with 111 registered cars, a day of Bluegrass music, photo exhibit and planes in the air! Come and hear mini seminars on photography, learn South Florida history and meet the Tuskegee Airmen!  Enjoy the music from the South Florida Bluegrass Association for their second music festival! Bring a chair, your sunblock and hang-on to your hat for a fun filled day!

The Wings Over Miami warbirds will also be on display and weather permitting, there will be "fly-bys" of WW2 era planes in formation. The pilots will be available to interact with attendees and pose for photos. Flying starts around 11:30 a.m. and will be intermittent throughout the early afternoon.

Be sure to watch the  website (www.wingsovermiami.com) and Facebook page to look for event details.

If you go:

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Gates open 11 am –

Wings Over Miami Air Museum

Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport

14710 S. W. 128 Street

Miami, Florida 33196

Calling all Photographers! May 19th Deadline! Wings Over Miami Photo Exhibit

Wings Over Miami museum is about hosting its first photo art exhibit during its Memorial Day May 25th event! Get your camera and take part.

With the assistance of Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs, Wings Over Miami Air Museum is inviting photographers to snap some shots of aircraft and share their favorites with the world on May 25th during the Memorial Day Event.

CLICK HERE to view a photo page of photos by Allison Diaz/Miami Herald of photographers out at the museum. 

CLICK HERE to view the link for all details!

Click here to read Exhibit Instructions.  Click here for Exhibit Application in PDF format.

The public will be invited to select their favorites and top photos will be showcased online and in Wings Over Miami’s very own annual calendar!

Wings Over Miami- You better get out there to see it soon, or you may miss it forever. This is a local museum at risk. Loss of this facility would be a shame of historic proportion.

I have covered many “did you know” columns before. This one is to try to grab your attention about a jewel that we are at risk of losing. Please, make this a case of support for its success rather than ‘sorry I missed it.’ Please read on.

Out in Kendall, there is a little museum that hidden on the west side of Kendall-Tamami Executive Airport. It is not fancy or even pristine, but it is what I consider one of the best little museums in our county. This museum is filled with flying aircraft, both vintage and warbirds. It is a living museum, ever changing as the planes come and go.

Wings Over Miami Air Museum was birthed in the empty hangar of the old Weeks Air Museum after local resident and airplane collector, Kermit Weeks, moved out up to Poke County with his collection. Four pilots and warbird lovers created the museum and it has been in existence for the past 11 years.

The museum regularly offers classic and warbirds aircraft in flight as well as in the hangar. There is no other similar museum south of mid-Florida. It fills a need within the South Florida community for an active aviation museum.  Both children and adults are able to view first hand planes they have only experienced through video and publications.

Wings Over Miami requires a hangar and a safe place on the runway to fly its planes. From its current location, the museum can safely walk school children to Miami Dade College’s School of Aviation for a peek and to the FAA Control Tower for a view of world from its top. Flight schools can bring in little planes for the children to sit in as they let their imaginations fly.

This coming Saturday, the museum is hosting a female WWII pilot’s memorial service. There will be veterans of all ages, from WWII to Korea to Afghanistan, and from all military services coming together in this working hangar to show their respect for WASP Helen Snapp. A service such as this could be held in a church, but what better way to honor a fallen pilot than to surround them with the very planes they flew?

Now this museum, filled with wonderful artifacts of aviation’s past, is under pressure from the county to not only pay $6,200 a month rent ($74,000 a year), but thousands of dollars in penalties,  interest and principal on late payments from years back.

As someone with a brother in active military service, I can’t help but wonder about how will we treat our veterans and their history if we cannot even help a little museum like Wings to survive in a county as large as ours?

Our future veterans, represented by The Tamami Composite Civil Air Patrol, which is housed in the museum, flys air search and Homeland Security Missions from the museum. They are at the museum at least once a week; all 135+ members of the group’s youth and adults. They maintain an office on site and use the entire museum for their activities. These are teens who are learning Air Force military skills and adult pilots who volunteer their time and skills to provide security for our community and South Florida. Their history of supporting the Coast Guard goes all the way back to Miami Beach in WWII. The organization is multicultural, multigenerational and has both female and male cadets. It reflects the up and coming pilots that will fly the new generation of planes and warbirds.

I recall the campaigns for bond money for parks and museums. Museums in Dade County, seem to be moving around all over the place at taxpayers’ expense. Waterfront venues, huge buildings, large parcels are no problem for county taxpayers.

Why is it that we have money for the MAM, the Science Museum, and Children’s museum all with their bay front views, but not for a museum that simply does what it does best without asking for free rent?  How many of the county museums have free or a $1 rent while the aviation department continues to push the rent up and the museum out of its home along with the nearby Bay of Pigs Memorial?

Of all the departments in the county, I cannot imagine one that would be better suited to help fund and nurture an aviation museum than the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. Sure, Wings is not the Smithsonian, but then the Smithsonian doesn’t have the charm of being an honest-to-God working aviation hangar.

This museum has been self-sustaining for as many years as it can be. How many other county museums have lived 11 years without funding assistance?  All the museum’s fundraising goes to the county either as rent or to keep the doors open. It can’t grow, it can’t develop programs and it can’t do repairs because it’s funding goes directly to maintaining operations. The board has paid over $417 thousand in rent alone to MDAD since 2007.

Over the years, the board of directors and the museum pilots have paid thousands of dollars in personal donations to the county aviation department to keep those planes in a publicly accessible hangar. They have put their time and money into making this unique history stay alive for the community. However, with the excessive county debt hovering over their heads, the museum is going to come to a quick end if we don’t step in help with donations, some time and talent.

What can you do to help the museum?  You can help stabilize it by contacting the Aviation Department Directors to let them know that Wings is important to this community. You can call or email the county commissioners and the county mayor. You can donate cash; you can buy an annual family membership.

This is our children’s heritage and our parent’s legacy that Wings Over Miami is seeking to preserve. Give them a hand. Do something now, before it is too late.

www.wingsovermiami.com or www.facebook.com/wingsovermiami

Memorial Day weekend event this Saturday - Wings Over Miami's Wings, Strings & Other Classics

Looking for a local fun-filled event to do with your family in keeping with Memorial Day Weekend? Make plants to attend the Wings Over Miami  Memorial Day Weekend salute to our Veterans! Set aside your Saturday for a fun-filled day of Bluegrass music and warbirds 

The gates open at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 26, 2012. The music starts at 1:00 p.m. and runs into the evening. Bring your comfortable lawn chairs and your favorite veteran! Please view the Wings Over Miami Memorial Day Weekend salute web page for full information.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online. Online tickets will be picked up the day of the event at Will Call. Veterans and current military with proper IDs are guests of the museum.

If you go:
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Gates open 11 am – Music starts at 1 pm till 9 pm
Wings Over Miami Air Museum
Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport
14710 S. W. 128 Street
Miami, Florida 33196

The Wings Over Miami warbirds will also be on display and weather permitting, there will be "fly-bys" of WW2 era planes in formation. The pilots will be available to interact with attendees and pose for photos. Flying starts around 11:30 a.m. and will be intermittent throughout the early afternoon.

Additionally, as part of the museum's living history project, veterans are urged to attend and have their portrait taken by the museum's photographers. All veterans are invited to bring a military-time photo and a piece of memorabilia if they would like to share it in their photo.