Close encounters with rare aircraft
Ohio’s Grimes Field offers unique experiences at three museums
At first glance, Grimes Field looks like many other Midwest airports: a paved runway and intersecting grass strip in the middle of flat cornfields, ample ramp parking, and a restaurant that lures pilots in droves. But there’s more than meets the eye at the Urbana, Ohio, airport located within the National Aviation Heritage Area of historic sites.
Champaign Aviation Museum. The largest of the three on-field museums, the Champaign Aviation Museum, features two World War II-era trails, the home front and the war front, and has a growing aircraft collection, including a North American B–25J Mitchell bomber, a Boeing B–17G Flying Fortress, a Douglas A–26C Invader, a Grumman C–1A, a Stinson 10A, a Fairchild F24, a Douglas C–47 Skytrain, a Schweizer TG–3 glider, and a de Havilland Vampire. For almost two decades, volunteers have been restoring the B–17 Flying Fortress Champaign Lady, which will become the centerpiece of the museum.
Guests can swing by the museum anytime from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, to watch the restoration in progress and talk to volunteers. The museum even lets visitors try riveting scrap aluminum. Another rare hands-on experience the museum offers is the opportunity to fly a Link Trainer, a motion flight simulator used to teach instrument flying skills to military pilots before and during World War II.
The museum completed a new $2 million hangar in early 2025 and has started transitioning some of its exhibits and smaller aircraft to the new hangar. The transition should be complete by the end of the year, and it will remain open to visitors throughout the process. The current hangar will be dedicated to the B–17, allowing volunteers to mount the wings to the aircraft. The new hangar will enable the museum to add aircraft and “create educational programming about the aircraft metalworking and machining done by the hard-working men and women of the Greatest Generation,” wrote Champaign Aviation Museum Development Director Jessica Henry in the museum’s Fall/Winter 2024 newsletter.
Grimes Flying Lab Museum. The Grimes Flying Lab Foundation seeks to keep the legacy of Warren G. Grimes alive and keep his test vehicle, the Flying Lab Beech 18, operational. Grimes, known as the “Father of Aircraft Lighting,” according to the National Aviation Hall of Fame, lived in the Dayton-area hotspot for aviation and watched the Wright brothers fly. He began producing aircraft lights in his garage in the 1930s and grew his company, Grimes Manufacturing Co., to provide aircraft lighting for the military, according to the National Aviation Heritage Area website. After being acquired by different companies over the years, it was ultimately purchased by Honeywell in 1997. Grimes died in 1975 and was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2010.
The Beech 18 he used to test new lighting options for aircraft still wows visitors—particularly at night—whether at the museum or at aviation events. With more than 75 lights installed, the twin-engine, twin-tail taildragger looks more like a UFO flying in the night sky than an aircraft.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays from April through October or by appointment.
Mid-America Flight Museum Restoration Hangar. The Mid-America Flight Museum has two locations, one in Texas and the other in Ohio. The Urbana branch is the newest museum on the field and houses active restoration projects. Grimes Field Airport Manager Drake Huffman said the hangar is open whenever volunteers are working on projects, typically weekdays during normal business hours. Huffman said pilots are welcome to tour the museum and even volunteer to help with the restorations. Doug Smith and Bill Knisley lead volunteers on the restoration projects. They are currently working on a replica Gee Bee R-6 QED that they trailered from Seattle, to Urbana and plan to restore to airworthiness.
The group previously restored a 1929 Travel Air 6000, earning Grand Champion in the antique aircraft category at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021.
Aviation programs and events
While at the airport, ask for an Aviation Trail brochure, particularly if planning to visit other aviation attractions in the Dayton area. The trail features 17 sites, but only eight are needed to earn a free aviation-themed “Wilbear Wright” teddy bear. The Champaign Aviation Museum and Grimes Flying Lab are two of the sites featured on the trail. Pilots can get a stamp each for visiting those two museums. Those who earn their eighth stamp at the Champaign Aviation Museum can pick up their bear there. The program runs through June 30.
The Champaign Aviation Museum is also part of the “Ohio Air & Space Trail” for the America 250-Ohio program that highlights the state’s contributions to the United States leading up to the country’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026.
The airport tentatively plans to host the Champaign County Balloon Festival, Fly-In, and Car Show on August 16. More information will be posted on the city of Urbana’s website and the airport Facebook page, Huffman said.
Good eats
With so many historical and one-of-kind aircraft based at the museums at Grimes Field, it could be easy to spend an entire day there. Grab a bite at Mindy’s Airport Café, which features famous pies (the meringue on the cream pies is three inches thick) and “jumbo wraps” among its homemade dishes on an aviation-themed menu. “Everything we make is from scratch,” owner Mindy Crooks said, noting an exception for the deep-fried appetizers. For those who want homemade pickled beets, macaroni salad, soups, pies, and more, this is the spot locals and pilots alike flock to.
Crooks bought the restaurant three years ago and has remodeled the inside and popular patio area that overlook the runways. The café is open Tuesday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
