This Kittyhawk Academy leverages educational field trips to expand the learning experience of our students and volunteers. Students travel with staff and volunteers to museums, airshows, WWII veteran reunions, parades and other interesting locations where they are exposed to real-world aviation heritage, heroes and American history.
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The field trips and the Kittyhawk Academy program is offered at no cost to the students. This is made possible through grants from private foundations, corporate sponsorship, individual contributions, fundraisers and merchandise sales.
Occasionally a trip may include working experience during which the students are allowed to use the mechanical skills they’ve learned at the Academy to help repair or disassemble a historic aircraft. During recovery trips to Alaska two student each spent one week unbolting, drilling, and preparing a B-25 aircraft for shipment to museum facilities in Michigan.
Many current students attended the 75th Anniversary commemoration of the 1942 Doolittle Raid that took place at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Four students were invited to fly in several of the seventeen B-25s that flew in formation during the ceremonial fly-by. A very rare and memorable experience for those four students.
We have traveled to the reunion of the WWII 57th Bomb Wing. Students were able to hear first-hand the stories of pilots and crew members during raids against Nazi military targets. Many of our youth participate in parades for Memorial Day and Independence Day.
Annually, we travel to Oshkosh Wisconsin to attend the AirVenture convention and airshow with our older students. In addition to spending time attending our booth and promoting our mission, the students get a chance to explore, learn, and experience aviation at the world’s largest aviation convention. Typically four to six of our youth are able to attend this annual field trip.
The Kittyhawk Academy, a branded program and DBA of the Warbirds of Glory Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The museum/academy was established in 2013 and received its IRS nonprofit designation in 2014. It is governed by a board of four trustees and is organized in Michigan as a non-voting membership organization with 115 current members including 25 lifetime members. All youth programs are offered at no cost to the students. Our programs are funded by foundation grants, private donations, corporate sponsorships, membership dues and merchandise sales.
Students entering the program begin working with mentors with simple and basical mechancial concepts that are universal to nearly all the trades.