Wichita! The Air Capital of the World! Is it true? There have been 86 different aircraft companies in Kansas and 51 of them have been in Wichita. Some of them built only one aircraft while companies such as Beechcraft/Hawker Beech, Cessna, Boeing and Lear Jet/Bombardier Learjet have built thousands. At one time Wichita built 70% of all civilian aircraft built. They still build a large percentage of all civilian aircraft built. Yes!! It is true!!
The Great Lakes Aircraft Company was located in the 100 block of S. Washington, on the east side of the street. The building is no longer there. They were in existance from 1971-1978. They built 145 aircraft and they were called the Great Lakes. The aircraft were mostly used for stunt flying. Nolan Jackson, owner of Wichita Engineering and Supply, was contacted by Herb Rawdon and Doug Champlin to help them build their aircraft. He agreed and they subcontracted the building of the aircraft to him. Mr. Jackson is still alive and attends the First Church of the Nazarene were I attend! A home built version called the Baby Great Lakes is on display in the Towanda Rest Area on the turnpilke, north east of Wichita.
I have had an idea for a series of caches to honor those aircraft companies and some of their suppliers. It has taken awhile to gather all of the information so I have been working on it awhile!! The caches are all located as near as I could get them to one of their locations, best as I know. Please note that some of the buildings are still there, so look for them and take a picture because they are part of Wichita’s aviation history!! There are no codes to find to find a final as this series may never end, as new aircraft companies are still being formed!! I hope that you will enjoy this series of caches!!
The cache is located at: NRb Zr.FSr W0Bk K.BRu.
The cache is a magnetic key container. Please return and secure it as good or better than you found it.
Congratulations to hottopic96 and DAYofTH3D3aD for being Co-FTF!!