America’s Airport Parks: Aviation-Inspired Playgrounds

You can find age-appropriate aviation adventures for children at parks at and around airports.

Thursday, September 01, 2022 at 12:09 PM ET

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This decommissioned Air Force T-33 jet trainer in a children's play area inspired the author as a child to learn how to fly years later as an adult. [Courtesy: Jim Harbin, superintendent of Los Gatos Parks and Public Works]

Key Takeaways:

Aviation-themed parks, often located near airports, provide unique play environments designed to inspire children's interest in flight and STEM fields.
These parks feature either real decommissioned aircraft (like the T-33 jet trainer in Oak Meadow Park) or aviation-inspired play structures such as mock planes, control towers, and runway-themed surfaces.
Notable examples include Runway Park at Greenville Downtown Airport (KGMU), Bremerton National Airport (KPWT), and DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (KPDK), all offering engaging experiences and views of actual aircraft.

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When I was child, every Saturday morning Dad, the aerospace engineer, took us kids to the park. My favorite was “the airplane park,” with a decommissioned T-33 in the play area. It was painted in Air Force colors. The T-33 was a jet trainer used by the Air Force from 1948 through 1959, and in the 1970s, the National Museum of the Air Force “loaned” it to Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos, California. I logged many an hour in that T-33. Imagine how disappointed I was when I learned that not every park had an airplane you could climb on, climb in, and use your imagination to take flight. I am happy to report the T-33 is still in that park, inspiring future generations.

According to Jim Harbin, superintendent of Los Gatos Parks and Public Works, the aircraft was delivered to the park in pieces in 1973 and reassembled on site. The Air Force stripped the airplane of instruments before shipping it—the parks department made the aircraft “kid friendly.”