advertisement

Indianapolis aviation museum to open at Rolls-Royce campus

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A company museum at Rolls-Royce North America's downtown Indianapolis campus is getting ready to open its doors.

The museum, which opens Tuesday, features interactive digital displays, aircraft engines from the 1920s and military fighter jets, The Indianapolis Business Journal (http://bit.ly/2k9nVvx ) reported.

Organizers say the museum aims to get adolescents interested in science and technology, and maybe entice an aerospace career in the future.

"This is the place to start the spark," said Dave Newill, president of the Allison Branch of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust.

Newill heads one of five branches of the Heritage Trust, which aim to preserve the history of the ancestor companies that eventually became part of the modern Rolls-Royce, an international corporation with operations in more than 50 countries.

Indianapolis-based VisionThree LLC created the interactive digital displays, which allow visitors to learn more about the objects in front of them. Visiting school groups will be able to have on-side lessons with a wheeled cabinet filled with educational materials.

This is the second location for the exhibit. Rolls-Royce spokesman Joel Reuter said the former location in southwest Indianapolis wasn't easy to stumble across.

Organizers hope the new location will catch the attention of downtown visitors.

Heritage Trust members tapped into their institutional knowledge and their networking skills to acquire the engines in the exhibit. They also spent many hours cleaning and repairing the items to make them display-worthy. They'll continue searching for new items to add to the collection.

Museum displays will be updated to rotate in items that do not currently fit. Digital displays will also be updated.

___

Information from: Indianapolis Business Journal, http://www.ibj.com

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.