BLAKESBURG —
Antique airplanes are making their way to Blakesburg.
The 41st annual AAA APM Invitational Fly-In is underway and will continue into the weekend.
The Antique Airfield is home to both the AAA and the Airpower Museum (APM).
“It’s more of a convention than anything else for members of AAA,” said Brent Taylor, executive director of the Antique Airplane Association (AAA) and chairman of the fly-in. “It’s put on by members for members. It’s for members to come enjoy each other’s company and watch their planes fly.”
The event is not open to the public for several reasons, Taylor said, including space and liability.
“There are already a couple dozen planes here from all over the country and there are more streaming in all the time,” Taylor said Wednesday afternoon.
Taylor’s father, Bob Taylor, started AAA in 1953, and with his business partner, Jack Lowe, organized the Airpower Museum in 1965.
The fly-in has been held at the Antique Airfield for all but three of the last 41 years.
“It really hasn’t changed,” Taylor said. “We’ve tried to keep the format for the fly-in basically the same. That’s the appeal to people, is it’s something they can go to that’s nostalgic, that hasn’t changed. It’s a step back in time.”
Taylor said, if the weather holds, the airfield could see between 350 and 400 airplanes to come to the fly-in over the course of the five days, though he’s expecting some cancellations from Florida and Georgia due to Hurricane Isaac.
Wapello County
Antique airplane fly-in a ‘step back in time’
Hundreds of planes expected to fly in this weekend for annual tradition
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