What would ‘Aviation Day’ be without an airplane?
So for this year’s ‘Aviation Day’ celebration (held Monday, Aug. 19) at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, the Aviation Museum was delighted to display an airplane built by high school students!
The aircraft: a two-seat Van’s RV-12iS build by high school students at the Manchester (N.H.) School of Technology. Completed in August 2022, it’s the first plane produced by the museum’s high school plane-building program.
Launched in 2019, the plane-building program now includes the Manchester school as well as high schools in Lebanon, N.H. (starting this September) and Farmington, N.H. (in 2025).
The Aviation Museum is partnering with Tango Flight, a Texas-based non-profit, and local school districts to establish plane-building projects to give high school students hands-on workshop experience that could lead to an aviation or aerospace career.
On display in the airport’s short-term parking lot, the RV-12iS was visited by families, airline passengers, and dignitaries including Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais and Ted Kitchens, director of Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Many thanks to Bob Hough, Aviation Museum board member, for coordinating the aircraft’s appearance.
Also, as part of Aviation Day, the museum also held hands-on activities inside the terminal led by Education Director Nathaniel MacDonald. Thanks to our volunteers for helping out, to our airport friends for inviting us to be part of this year’s ‘Aviation Day,’ and for volunteer Steve Heffelfinger all the photos!
