Florida aviation museum features Hughes

The Toronto Star recently carried a travel piece about the Florida Aviation Museum and mentioned that it contains a big collection of Hughesiana:

"A completely different kind of art form can be found just outside Lakeland, in Polk County. It's a bit of heaven for those who like to soar: the Florida Air Museum.

"For museum curator Kathryn McManus, flying is a passion and an avocation.

"‘I feel like pinching myself every day that I get to work here,' she says. ‘They actually pay me to do this.'

Among the aircraft and flying memorabilia, there's a real jewel — the Howard Hughes personal aviation collection. The museum got a lucky break in 1996 when the Hughes Corp. wanted to empty its warehouse, says McManus. The Smithsonian turned down the collection and the Florida Air Museum stepped in.

So here, in a plain one-story building in the heart of Polk County, is the brilliant eccentric's extraordinary collection, including a scale model of the famous Spruce Goose, Hughes' flight suit and the flight suit of his one-time-lover Katharine Hepburn. There are also photos of the couple. Hughes' 1938 round-the-world fight ‘was like us going to the moon,' comments McManus, who plans to digitize the daily radio broadcasts Hughes made during that journey."

So, the Spruce Goose is in Oregon while Hughes' personal aviation collection is in Florida: I'll say that's a good 3,0o0 miles. Good thinking.