EVANSVILLE, Ind (WEHT) The Evansville Wartime Museum has announced their 2021 events, and they include things like plane rides, an engine-run of the ‘Hoosier Spirit II,’ and new exhibits.

The Evansville Wartime Museum is now open on Thursday through Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to
4:00 p.m.

Friday, May 7

Celebration of approval of House Bill 1197 that designates Evansville’s own P-47, Hoosier Spirit II, as the Indiana State Aircraft. The new design for Hoosier Spirit II will be revealed at this event. Attendees will include Indiana’s Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and other local governmental officials.

Saturday, May 29 (EWM will be celebrating the fourth anniversary of its opening in 2017)
  • Plane rides – local Evansville private pilots will be donating their time and planes to help raise funds for the Evansville Wartime Museum. Paid visitors to the museum will be able to ride in these planes for a donation of $75 to $100 per person. The planes will take passengers on a 20-minute tour of Evansville departing and returning to the museum. Reservations for flights begin May 17, 2021.
  • D Company, 334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division with member from Indiana and Kentucky will be on site as WWII re-enactors on the museum grounds. This group enjoys educating the public on the life of a WWII soldier and their daily struggles in combat abroad. Visitors can learn the history of one of the units that stopped the Axis at the Battle of the Bulge.
Sunday, May 30
  • Evansville’s own P-47, Hoosier Spirit II, will be rolled out of the museum for an engine run on the tarmac south of the museum. Paid visitors will be able to watch while the engine runs for the first time since arriving in Evansville last September.
  • Following the engine run, we plan to have a speaker who can talk about the one-ton Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp two-row 18-cylinder radial engine producing 2,000 horsepower that runs the P-47
July 9-11

Three WWII planes from the Commemorative Air Force will be at the Evansville Wartime Museum for tours and rides. Planes include a B-17 Flying Fortress, a North American T-6 Texan and a Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor. The three planes will be available for tours and rides. Admission to the museum will be $20 and include tours of these three planes. Flights will be extra

September 11-12

First Responder’s Weekend – this weekend at the museum will be dedicated to those first responders who have helped get us through the past year with their dedication to service.

October 31

Halloween Bash – Paid visitors to the museum can bring their costumed children (5 and under free) to see our Halloween decorations and trick or treat for candy in addition to the historic artifacts on display.

November 11 (Veterans Day)

All veterans and guests are invited to the museum for free breakfast (courtesy of Browning Funeral Homes) beginning at 7:00 a.m. CST.

New exhibits coming to the museum this summer include two additional planes for the museum’s collection: a Boeing Stearman (a primary trainer for the U.S. Army Air Force, U.S. Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force throughout WWII) and a Republic Seabee Amphibian Aircraft produced in the late 1940s. We will be adding a display case focusing on the Korean War and there will be a special exhibit displaying 4,700 service patches from every military unit of WWII that was donated by a private collector.

(This story was originally published on April 19, 2021)