The Leonardo museum welcomed a new addition on Monday—the centerpiece of its upcoming exhibit titled “Flight.”
The C-131 aircraft arrived at the museum on Monday in four different pieces. Teams will spend the next couple days getting all the pieces inside and assembled. When complete, the military carrier aircraft has a wingspan of just over 100 feet.
Andrew Parker is The Leonardo’s marketing director. He compared the upcoming exhibit "Flight" to large exhibitions the museum has hosted in the past, including "Body Worlds," "Mummies of the World" and the "Dead Sea Scrolls."
“Flight is an exhibit on that scale but the difference is that it’s permanent here at The Leonardo,” Parker says. “We built it, it’s made from scratch and it’s ours and it’s going to be fantastic”
Visitors can learn about everything from the wings of birds to the future of space exploration. The Leonardo’s exhibit director Marissa DeSimone says the art of flight is one of the many ways science, technology and art intersect in the real world.
“We love what we call STEAM, science, technology, engineering, arts and math,” she says. “And not only that, but it was a topic that our namesake Leonardo da Vinci was very passionate about.”
DeSimone says Flight will feature lots of interactive learning—visitors will be able to climb inside the restored C-131 and sit in the pilot’s seat.
The new exhibit opens to the public on August 6.
