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State Aviation Hall of Fame and State Aviation Museums

By Kelly Agan, Government & Heritage Library, 2014

See also: North Carolina State Symbols and Official Adoptions main page; North Carolina History Timeline: State Symbols and Other Official Adoptions

Photograph of an airplane flown by Orville Wright. From the North Carolina Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame, Asheboro, N.C., April 20, 2005. Image from the NC ECHO Collection at NC Digital Collections.In 2003, the North Carolina General Assembly designated the State Aviation Hall of Fame and Aviation Museums. (Session Laws, 2003, H.B. 694.)

The Asheboro Municipal Airport was designated as the State Aviation Hall of Fame and North Carolina Aviation Museum and the Wilmington International Airport as the North Carolina Museum of Aviation.  

About the Asheboro Municipal Airport

The North Carolina Aviation Museum began as the Foundation for Aircraft Preservation. Launched by Jim Peddycord and Craig Branson in 1996, it made its home in an unused hanger at the Asheboro Regional Airport. The original collection was donated by Pettycord to the city of Asheboro for establishment of the museum and included several historic aircraft and items from aviation history from World War II to the Vietnam Conflict. Branson died in 2005 and Peddycord died in a plane accident in 1997. In 2003 the state legislature designated the museum as the Hall of Fame. The museum has hosted veterans' events, fly-ins, and educational programs for local schools. The effort to designate an aviation Hall of Fame began in 2000.

About the North Carolina Aviation Museum of Wilmington

The aviation museum at the Wilmington International Airport was established sometime in the early 2000s.  Aircraft on display include a Martin 404 and a full size replica of a Wright Flyer. The museum was designated as the official location of the North Carolina Aviation Museum by the General Assembly in 2003. 

References:

"NC Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame." NC Weekend. January 31, 2013.  UNC-TV. https://video.pbsnc.org/video/2331197235/ (accessed December 16, 2014).

North Carolina General Assembly. Sessions Laws, 2003, H.B.694. https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2003-2004/SL2003-363.html (accessed December 16, 2014).

"N.C. Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame's annual Fly-in June 9." The Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, N.C.), May 31, 2012. https://www.courier-tribune.com/sections/get/do/nc-aviation-museum-and-hall-fame%e2%80%99s-annual-fly-june-9.html (accessed December 16, 2014).

North Carolina Aviation Museum Hall of Fame. https://www.ncamhof.com/index.html (accessed December 16, 2014).

"North Carolina Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame, Asheboro, Randolph County." NC ECHO.  https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/north-carolina-aviation-museum-and-hall-of-fame/57295 (accessed December 16, 2014).

Womick, Chip. "Plans underway for N.C. Aviation of Hall of Fame." The Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, N.C.), September 23, 2007.

Associated Press. "Aviation Hall of Fame could land in Asheboro." GoUpstate.com.

"Wright Flyer Replica at Wilmington International Airport Museum - North Carolina 2013." Airways News. (accessed December 16, 2014).

"Martin 404 Simulator at North Carolina Museum of Aviation at Wilmington International Report - 2013." Airways News. (accessed December 16, 2014).

Image Credit:

"North Carolina Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame." Photograph. April 20, 2005. NC ECHO. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/Documents/Detail/north-carolina-aviation-museum-and-hall-of-fame/57295 (accessed December 16, 2014).

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