Established in 1986 as Save-a-Connie, Inc. we became a 501 (c)(3) in May 1987 and are now dba Airline History Museum.

The story of AHM’s beginning as told by Co-founder, Dick McMahon

It all began in my office at Richards-Gebaur AFB the summer of 1985. At that time I was the civilian Air Force Manager for the USAF, having assumed that position upon my military retirement in 1984. Larry A. Brown (current BOD member and Director of Educational Programs) then became chief pilot for Wilcox Electric and was involved in testing the micro-wave approach concept at GVW. That particular day the weather was bad and he and I were “hangar flying.” Larry was looking at pictures of various aircraft I had been qualified in; among them was the Lockheed Constellation C-121. He commented on what a beautiful aircraft the Connie was and recounts that I said, ‘why don't we get one, fix it up and fly it to air shows?’ The rest as they say is history.

However, Larry did the vast majority of the work it took to get this effort off the ground and I consider him the true founder of Save-A-Connie. After much research, a suitable L-1049H Connie was located at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. To make a long story short, Mr. Paul Pristo bought the aircraft at auction for $4,000, and donated it to the parent organization we formed in March 1986. Larry and I knew that Kansas City was virtually the only place where such a project could succeed because of the number of retired TWA mechanics. TWA was the largest user of Connies among the airlines from 1946-1967. The U S Navy had a total of 210 over a period of time. After the founding of SAC and receiving the title to our Connie, N6937C, various members started spending time (weekends to three weeks at a time) at Falcon Field on 37C.  When I first saw her, I thought, ‘I'm going to fly this!?’ It was in bad shape after sitting there for eleven years and having flown 28,000 plus hours prior to that. It needed vast amounts of TLC. It got enough TLC in the form of around 3,600 man hours over a nine-week time span and it was flown to MKC without incident on July 15, 1986.

To regress some, I would like to mention why we (Larry and I) picked the Connie to restore. We, like many others, believe the Connie to be the most beautiful aircraft ever. In addition, it is the primary aircraft that put the transatlantic steamships out of business. Thus, one needed to be preserved in flying condition so people could continue to appreciate its history and beauty. When the Connie arrived in July 1986, SAC had a one room office in the north extension of the former passenger terminal and no hangar. We did eventually, (March 1987,) put the Connie in the north bay of what had been the Braniff hangar on the east side of MKC. The aircraft was literally rebuilt over the next many months. The FAA issued 37C's airworthiness certificate on 2 November 1989. Air show appearances began during the summer of 1990 and continued unabated throughout the summer of 2005.”

In this 7 minute documentary see the desert beginning as the "crazy idea" of Larry Brown and Dick McMahon to restore a Lockheed Constellation was put into action.