The Airport Authority loves to partner with local educators to share the wonder of flight with others. You will find many useful resources on this page to help develop your aviation curriculum, including a variety of age appropriate activities and an extensive aviation reading list – broken down by age group – that will compliment any lesson plan.
To take your lesson plans to A Whole New Altitude, contact us to arrange a tour of the airport or the Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum. Young or old, museum visitors will enjoy learning about our region’s contribution to the history of flight.
Would you like to learn more about the airport and aviation? Tours are offered at three locations around Fort Wayne International Airport and can be geared to a variety of ages and interests. Perfect for school field trips and civic groups!
Lt. Paul Baer Terminal Aircraft/Rescue/Fire Fighting Facility Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum
All tours are free and are arranged by appointment only. For more information on tours, please contact Judy Lake 747-4146 ext. 439 or at jlake@fwairport.com.
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Adults and history buffs wishing to take a nostalgic trip into the past may schedule a tour of the Museum conducted by the Curator.
Historic details of old Baer Field, local aviation heroes and memories of Fort Wayne in the 40’s & 50’s are all tied into a fascinating glimpse of the early days of aviation in Fort Wayne. The Greater Fort Wayne Aviation Museum is a showcase of aviation in the Tri-State area, featuring military, commercial, and general aviation.
Roger Myers, curator, is your special host for this enjoyable and educational tour. The museum is on the secured side of the terminal, so tours are arranged by appointment only.
Ages: This tour is specifically for adults.
Group Size: 8 - 15
Tour Length: 1 - 2 Hours
Contact: Judy Lake, curator: (260) 747-4146 ext. 439
Directions: Tour starts in the Business Center of the Lt. Paul Baer Terminal, across from the baggage carousels.
Parking: Park in Short Term parking. Bring your parking ticket for validation.
More information on the Aviation Museum.
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A tremendous amount of aviation education activities are available on the internet.
The following websites represent just a few sites that teachers may find of interest:
AvScholars: Students Gateway to Aviation: www.avscholars.com
Links to sites with a wide variety of aviation education activities
Education World: www.education-world.com
Hands-on activities in lesson plan format, includes a section on women in aviation
FAA Kid’s Corner: Federal Aviation Administration: www.faa.gov/education
Many activities including coloring pages, games, puzzles, experiments
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: http://www.nasm.si.edu/education
Free classroom resources and teacher guides, including a section on African-American aviators
Heli-Hound: Helicopter Association International: http://www.rotor.com/Default.aspx?PageContentID=320&tabid=1289
Heli-Hound is a science, math, and technology rich program for kindergarten through second grade students. Students pretend they are members of a large workforce needed to launch Heli-Hound's helicopter on its way to fly a medical team, rescue people or fight crime.
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Recommended reading lists broken down by grade level and classified by fiction/non-fiction.
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Nonfiction
Air Show by Anastasia Suen
Airplane by Caroline Bingham
Airplanes by Lola Schaefer
Amazing Aircraft Seymour Simon
Bessie Colman: Daring to fly by Sally M. Walker
Flight by Robert Burleigh.
Fly, Bessie, Fly by Lynn Joseph
Flying High. (Science Experiments) by Julian Rowe
The Glorious Flight by Alice Provensen
I Want To Be a Pilot
Into the Air: An illustrated timeline of flight by Ryan Ann Hunter
Jetliners by Jon Richards
Katherine Stinson Otero: High flyer by Neila Skinner Petrick
Our Neighbor is a Strange, Strange Man by Tres Seymour
Pilots by Cecilia Minden
Pilots Fly Planes by Fay Robinson
Take Off! by Ryan Ann Hunter
This is Daniel Cook on a Plane by Yvette Ghione
This Plane by Paul Collicutt
Fiction
Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan
Hot Air: The (mostly) true story of the first hot-air balloon ride by Marjorie Priceman
My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
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Nonfiction
Air Show Pilots and Airplanes by Timothy R. Gaffney
Airborne: A photobiography of Wilbur and Orville Wright by Mary Collins
The Airplane Book by Cheryl Walsh Bellville
Amazing Flying Machines by Robin Kerrod
The Book of Flight: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum by Judith Rinard
Fantastic Flights: One hundred years of flying on the edge by Patrick O’Brien
Feathers, Flaps & Flops: Fabulous early flyers by Bo Zaunders
First to Fly: How Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane by Peter Busby
Flight by Peter Mellett
Flight. (Science Experiments) by John Farndon
Fly!: A brief history of flight illustrated by Barry Moser
Fly, Bessie, Fly by Lynn Joseph
The Flyer Flew: The invention of the airplane by Lee Sullivan Hill
Flying Machine by Andrew Nahum
Helicopters by Darlene Stille
Into the Air: The story of the Wright Brothers first flight by Robert Burleigh
Jenny: The airplane that taught America to fly by David Weitzman
Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd
The Story of Flight series by Ole Steen Hansen
The Story of Flight: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum by Judith Rinard
Wings and Rockets: The story of women in air and space by Jeannine Atkins
Women of the Wind: Early women aviators by Wanda Langley
The Wright Brothers: How they invented the airplane by Russell Freedman
Fiction
Boy Who Could Fly Without a Motor by Theodore Taylor
Race for the Sky: The Kitty Hawk diaries of Johnny Moore by Dan Gutman
Wingwalker by Rosemary Wells
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Nonfiction
Amelia Earhart: Legend of Flight by Linda Pflueger
An American Hero: The True Story of Charles A. Lindbergh by Barry Denenberg
The Belly Gunner by Dale Aldrich
Careers for the 21st Century: Aeronautics by Christian Girod
Claire Chennault: Flying Tiger by Earle Rice, Jr.
Coming Out Right: The Story of Jacqueline Cochran by Elizabeth Smith
Cowboys of the Sky: The Story of Alaska's Bush Pilots by Steven C. Levi
Daredevils of the Air by Karen E. Bledsoe
Eddie Rickenbacker by Rachel Koestler-Grack
Fighter Pilots: Life at Mach Speed by Alison Stark Draper
Flying Things: Simple Experiments in the Science of Flight by Michael A. Dispezio
How an Airport Really Works by George Sullivan
How to Fly a 747 by Tim Paulson
Manfred von Richthofen by Earle Rice, Jr.
Protecting the Nation with the U. S. Air Force by Chris McNab
Red-Tail Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II by Patricia McKissack
Simple Space and Flight Experiments with Everyday Materials by Louis V. Loeschnig
Soaring Above Setbacks by Janet Harmon Bragg
Super Jumbo Jets: Inside and Out by Holly Cefrey
Those Wonderful Women in Their Flying Machines: The Unknown Heroines of World War II
by Sally vanWagenen Keil
Fiction
Airfield by Jeannette Ingold
Coast to Coast by Betsy Byars
The Great Airport Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon
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Nonfiction
Ace of Aces : The Life of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker by H. Paul Jeffers
Amelia : The Centennial Biography of an Aviation Pioneer by Donald M. Goldstein
Art Smith: Pioneer Aviator, by Rachel Roberts
Art Smith's Story, by Art Smith
Aviation Century series by Ron Dick and Dan Patterson
*The Early Years
*The Golden Age
*World War II
*Wings of Change
*War and Peace in the Air
Aviation Year by Year by Bill Gunston
Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis by Dominick Pisano
Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1: Breaking the Sound Barrier by Dominick Pisano
Flyboys : A True Story of Courage by James Bradley
Great Aircraft of the World: The Illustrated History of the Most Famous Civil and Military Planes
ed. by Peter Allez-Fernandez and Len Cacutt
In the Cockpit: Inside 50 History-Making Aircraft by Eric F. Long
One Thousand Civil Aircraft in Colour by Gerry Manning
Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator by Doris L. Rich
Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free : Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW by Alexander Jefferson
Rocket Boys: a Memoir by Homer Hickam
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose
Fiction
Air Force One by Max Allan Collins
B for Buster by Iain Lawrence
Under a War Torn Sky by L. M. Elliott
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