The Kalamazoo Air Zoo will celebrate its 40th anniversary in November with a lot of history and some new exhibits.
The Air Zoo started after the owners of several World War Two airplanes and a few friends got together and flew around the Kalamazoo area. When people saw them, they started asking questions about the aircraft. And Air Zoo C-E-O Troy Thrash says that gave their owners the idea of opening a museum.
“That was really the spark behind the Air Zoo, it started with five that quickly grew to nine aircraft, but the first five were all named after animals, like a wildcat, a flying tiger, a war hawk, hence the name Air Zoo.”
New exhibits at the Air Zoo include one about D-Day that will open early next month, and a 50th anniversary Apollo 11 exhibit opening in July. Others will be shown throughout the rest of this year.