Wonderful Wacos and much more

Creve Coeur Airport is a trip to the Golden Age of aviation

December 28, 2022 By Jill W. Tallman

Editor's note: This article was updated May 18 to correct the name of Waco owner and collector John Cournoyer.

If you find yourself traveling near St. Louis, Missouri, treat yourself and build an extra day into your schedule. Then spend that day—the entire day—at Creve Coeur Airport’s (1HO) Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum in Maryland Heights, Missouri.

the museum

The Standard J-1 was a two-seat biplane produced in the United States from 1916 to 1918.

It was constructed from wood with wire bracing and fabric covering.

It was powered by a four-cylinder inline Hall-Scott A-7a engine. (Photography by David Tulis)

The diverse collection includes a Fleet 7B Fawn, which the Royal Canadian Air Force used as primary trainers in the 1930s.

Fly in for fun

For more than 25 years the museum has hosted the American Waco Club’s annual event and every other year, hosts the Monocoupe Club fly-in. In the past, the museum has hosted the Cessna 190/195 Club event, the Cessna 120/140 Club fly-in, and the Globe/Temco Swift fly-in. Creve Coeur Airport maintains two 3,000-foot grass runways in addition to its primary 4,500-foot hard surface runway. The grass runway layout ensures that the a 45-degree crosswind is the most pilots will face.

You’ll need that much time, because the museum has four hangars—holding 60 airplanes—most of which were manufactured during the golden age of aviation, 1920 to 1939. As you might expect, the collection has Wacos—almost an entire hangar is devoted to variants of the stately biplane. But there are also Monocoupes and a Monosport, a massive twin-engine de Havilland Dragon Rapide DH-89A, a Cardinal (not the Cessna kind, but a 1929 high-wing produced by the defunct St. Louis Aircraft Manufacturing Company), and a 1931 Curtiss-Wright Air Sedan. Then there are the outliers—airplanes like a Polish-built Antonov and a 1932 Russian-built Shavrov SH-2 amphibian used to patrol shorelines—that don’t fit the museum’s golden age profile but nonetheless have a cool factor that’s off the charts.

The museum is essentially “a hobby that got completely out of control,” said Albert Stix IV, the development director of Creve Coeur Airport and curator of the museum. His father, Albert Stix III, started buying and restoring airplanes in the 1950s. When there was talk of selling the airport in the 1980s, the elder Stix partnered with John Cournoyer and John Mullen to buy it and save it from development. The airport remains privately owned, but it is a federal reliever airport for St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

The museum is essentially “a hobby that got completely out of control,” said Albert Stix IV.Stix’s father loved Stearmans, and some beautiful examples of his collection reside at the museum. John Cournoyer was a nationally recognized Waco expert. Almost an entire hangar is used to house his acquisitions, which include a rare example of a tricycle-gear Waco. Stix is not too excited about that one, however; he said it’s hard to fly, and on the day AOPA visited it had a “For Sale” tag on its propeller.

The aircraft here are not only beautifully restored, they’re also kept airworthy. “We try to keep things flyable and in annual,” Stix said, noting that the museum is similar to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York in that it flies airplanes for visitors’ enjoyment in spring and summer when conditions are favorable.

But you can enjoy these pristine aircraft all year round. The museum is open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment Tuesday through Thursday by calling 314-434-3368.

[email protected]

historicaircraftrestorationmuseum.org