Kalamazoo Air Zoo

Since it was raining and thundering this afternoon I decided to head over to the Air Zoo which is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and try some sketching.

During WWII the Navy conducted carrier landing training on the USS Wolverine. Training was conducted on Lake Michigan off shore from Great Lakes Naval Training station. During more than one landing errors occurred and aircraft were lost over the side and into the depths of Lake Michigan. Several years ago one of the lost aircraft, an SBD-3 Dautless, was recovered from the bottom of the lake. Here's a picture of the wreck post recovery.

Through a lot of effort the SBD was completely restored and is now housed at the Air Zoo. Here's my sketch of the aircraft as it is now.

The Air Zoo is also home to numerous other aircraft. One that caught my eye this afternoon is the PT-17 Stearman biplane. The PT-17 was used as a primary flight trainer for pilots training to fly WWII aircraft. This is the beautifully maintained Stearman that's housed at the Air Zoo.  All-in-all a fun afternoon of sketching.