During an adventure lasting 5 years, 145 days, 21 hours and 50 minutes, the Wings across America 2008 SQuiRT helped educate countless people about model aviation, and helped build camaraderie between the over 800 participating pilots.
On October 18, 2013 the SQuiRT began a new adventure as part of the National Model Aviation Museum. During a short ceremony, WAA-08 creator Frank Geisler, handed the SQuiRT, its travel box, flight logs, good luck hot dog toy, and other memorabilia off to Museum Director Michael Smith for placement in the permanent collection. As part of the collection, the SQuiRT will be able to continue to educate and inspire aspiring modelers now and a hundred years from now.
The ceremony was mainly comprised of comments from Michael and Frank encompassing the story of the SQuiRT and its travels, as well as thanks from the museum for its donation. It ended with Frank signing the Deed of Gift, officially turning over ownership of the SQuiRt to the museum. If you weren’t able to make it to Muncie you can watch the video.
Frank and Don Way flew the SQuiRT for its last flights at the International Flying Site prior to the donation. You can check out Frank’s video of those flights here:
The museum is working on putting together an exhibit for the SQuiRT, although the design and timeframe are still being planned. The exhibit will include a virtual component located at
https://www.modelaircraft.org/museum/waa.aspx. When you visit the page, keep in mind that it is a work-in-progress at the moment.
Were you a participant in the WAA-08 adventure and want to continue participating? There’s a wiki page for WAA-08 that could use some updating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_Across_America_2008 Or, share your WAA-08 memories with Museum Collections Manager Maria VanVreede at mariav@modelaircraft.org (permission to for the museum to use your WAA-08 photos shared with Frank is also appreciated).
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