Airline History Museum — Attraction in Kansas City

I had a chance to visit the museum on 12/29/21 and my overall take is mixed which is why I would rate this attraction 3 stars.

The good: The staff member who was working that day was very polite and was open to conversation about the exhibits. He explained the layout of the museum as well as some history about the planes that were on display. It's was a plus to be able to walk through two planes and get a first hand experience.

The not so good: This place is in desperate need of an update. When I first pulled up to the building I noticed a huge chunk missing from the side of the exterior of the building. Many of the displays and exhibits were probably at one time well done but the years have not been good to this dated museum. Im sure most of this museums issues are due to a lack of funding which is sad. The gift shop had some old tshirts, high priced model airplanes, cases of water in a cooler, a fax machine and some other random things that may of been storage items.

It was worth the $10 admission to see what was on display and walk through the planes but you can do it all in less than 30 minutes even if you stop and read everything. It would of been nice to see this museum back in its glory days ...... years and years ago. Maybe in the future, just like most of the planes that were on display, it will be fully restored and can fly...

A decent small museum with 3 well maintained aircraft (DC3, Martin 404, and Lockheed Constellation) in TWA livery, as well as an L1011 that they're going to be working on maintaining. Aside from that, they've got a 10min video that they have you sit and watch, then you can wandering into an artifact room, where you can see memorabilia from different ages of air travel.

They won't let you into the hangar where the aircraft are without an escort to comply with FAA regs for hot ramp access (completely understandable), but their docent took his dear sweet time talking to the other couple that had shown up at the same time as I did. I was hoping to move along the tour a little faster than the guide did, but he couldn't catch a hint, and the people at the front desk were kind of aloof.

While the guide had a vast amount of knowledge of the aircraft, it definitely feels like a hobbyist-level effort to keep the museum going. I think that it would be in their best interest to merge with the TWA Museum on the other side of the airport, as they actually have a lot of good TWA memorabilia, but no...

Very, very impressed. The staff who volunteer their time here care a lot about what they do, the history, the artifacts, and the guest's experiences. I felt we received very welcoming, personalized service. I had the opportunity to speak with knowledgeable volunteers who took an interest in my visit and that made a huge difference in my enjoyment. I felt comfortable to ask questions, look around, and get more info. Very friendly and personable. It is very affordable to visit this museum.

The artifacts are things I've never seen before. You have the opportunity to see the cockpits of multiple planes. You can go inside two different types of old planes, much different than what we see today, and explore the whole plane as well. It is connected to the landing strip where you can see planes take off. It was a very unique experience and I recommend everyone to visit. I really enjoyed it - never seen a museum like this in my travels and I've been to quite a bit of places.

Thanks for an excellent...