When this building was a functioning airport, this roomed served as its air traffic control tower.  Air traffic controllers are vital for coordinating safe take offs and landings at busy airports. Today, this tower provides a bird’s eye view of the museum’s outdoor planes, as well as McConnell Airforce Base and Spirit Aerosystems. Over your shoulder to the North you can even see Wichita’s skyline.

This tower was added on to Wichita Municipal Airport in 1940 at a cost of $7,092. By the following year, the airport was averaging 600 flights a day. This tower is unique in that it is the first air traffic control tower in the world to feature the slanted window design. Slanted windows prevent glare, and are less likely to accumulated rain and dirt. Today the slanted window design is a global standard that can be found all over the world, including on the Air Force tower visible to the South.

The first female air traffic controller worked in this control tower. Mary Chance VanScyoc worked in this tower in 1944, and called in the 1945 fire in Hangar One.  Decades later when the Kansas Aviation Museum opened its doors, VanScyoc returned to this building as a museum volunteer.  She led tours and helped with restoration until her death in 2011. VanScyoc’s autobiography, A Lifetime of Chances is featured in our Women of Aviation exhibit.