KEWANEE WEATHER

Kewanee airport hosts annual Stearman Fly-in


By Michael Berry    September 5, 2024
A couple of youngsters get a good look at a lineup of Stearman biplanes parked at the Kewanee Municipal Airport. [Photos by Michael Berry]

A group of Stearman biplanes made the annual flight from Galesburg to Kewanee Thursday for the Kewanee Municipal Airport’s Stearman Fly-in.

The Stearman planes were built in Wichita, Kan., starting in the late 1920s. In the mid-1930s the Army Air Corps and the Navy began using the planes to train pilots.

A newly-arrived Stearman, right, finds a parking spot outside the airport’s hangar.

More than 10,000 of the planes were built before production ceased after World War II. It is estimated that about 1,000 of them are still flying today.

The planes that flew to Kewanee were part of the National Stearman Fly-In, which is a project of the National Stearman Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to preserving the planes and educating the public about their history.

A vintage Stearman biplane taxis past earlier arrivals at the Kewanee Municipal Airport