From the Museum Director
The Wings of the North Air Museum’s Speaker Series launched strongly on Thursday, November 6, with an engaging presentation by Dave Mattsson on the 1958 crash of a B 52 Stratofortress in Inver Grove Heights. This incident—one of Minnesota’s lesser known aviation tragedies—resulted in the loss of seven of the eight crew members and injuries to eleven people on the ground. Dave delivered an excellent and thoughtful retelling of this tragic accident to an audience of more than 50 attendees.
Our Speaker Series will continue on the first Thursday of every month (excluding holidays) at 6:30 p.m. in the museum. These events are free and open to the public—donations are always appreciated, and no reservations are required. On December 4, local historian Jim Johns presented on the attack on Pearl Harbor, including several fascinating Minnesota connections. Our next Speaker Series event will be Feb 5th, 2026, come join us.
The museum has also been busy hosting a variety of private tours, welcoming groups ranging from Cub Scouts to senior citizens. These tours and private events play an important role in supporting our operations, so please keep us in mind for your family gatherings, company outings, or holiday celebrations.
Looking ahead to 2026, we are excited to announce plans for a Father’s Day car show at the museum in June. If you are interested in helping organize or volunteer for this event, we would love to hear from you. We are also seeking one or two mechanically inclined volunteers to help maintain our ground equipment, including forklifts, aircraft tugs, and air compressors.
Finally, thank you for your continued support of the Wings of the North Air Museum throughout the past year. We are optimistic that 2026 will bring some exciting news about our future at Flying Cloud Airport. We encourage you to attend our monthly meetings the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM and join us as we navigate the year ahead.
Restoration Hangar
BT-15 Progress The repairs on our tailcone have now been completed, and the stripping and polishing process has begun. There 6 separate repairs that were required but in doing so we added two doublers which will make our tailcone stronger that it was when Vultee produced it. Hub caps have been installed, the historically accurate color paint is being determined and will be applied. The rudder trim tab is installed and rigged and the rudder rigging is almost completed as well. The next step will installing both elevators and their trim tabs as well. Then the rigging of each of those will take place. The stencils are being researched and painted on the aircraft as we locate the proper locations for each. The battery box has been manufactured and is almost complete. Once this step is complete and we can install the battery and we can begin our electrical check outs. We look forward to doing our pre-flight run ups this spring.
Wanna help us fund the rest of this project? Donate on our website: https://www.wotn.org/donate
AirFair
AirFair planning meetings will kick off in 2026, and we are actively seeking volunteers to help shape this year’s event. With the nation celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, we’re especially eager to hear your ideas on how to make this AirFair a truly memorable tribute.
If you’d like to get involved, please join us at 6:30 PM on the third Thursday of each month beginning in January. Your creativity, energy, and enthusiasm play a vital role in making AirFair a success, and we welcome all who want to contribute.