Learjet Project Completed

Learjet 28-001 Exhibit at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum

In November of 2021, the Armstrong Air & Space Museum submitted a request for a Foundation Community Fund Grant. The grant was to help fund the Museum’s Learjet project.  Neil Armstrong set five world records in Learjet 28-001 in February 1979. At the time, he was a professor at the University of Cincinnati and a member of the Board of Directors of Gates Learjet Corporation. This historic plane was given to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum and made its final flight to Auglaize County’s Neil Armstrong Airport on August 20, 2020—the date of what would have been Mr. Armstrong’s 90^th birthday.

The project was to preserve the plane and create a new exterior exhibit on the museum grounds to explain more about Mr. Armstrong’s career after retiring from NASA in 1971. The new exhibit was dedicated in July 2022 as part of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration of its opening in July 1972. The Wapakoneta Area Community Foundation is proud to assist the project with a $5,000 Community Fund Grant.