An aircraft operated by the Bowling Green-based Friends of Vintage Flight has been featured at AirVenture 2025, being held through this week in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The Spirit of Kentucky, a 1929 Curtiss Robin – which represents a major era in aviation history and is reminiscent of the Spirit of St. Louis that Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic – was also recently featured in the cover story in the April edition of “Sport Aviation” magazine.

The aircraft was flown to the world’s largest aviation event by Friends Chair Dorian Walker, who was also a featured speaker.

The Curtiss Robin was prominently displayed at the event’s Vintage Red Barn.

“There’s been an estimated half a million people in Oshkosh,” Walker said. “It’s been a phenomenal turnout for this aircraft.”

According to Walker, the Spirit of Kentucky not only educates audiences about the period of aviation between World War I and World War II, but also highlights the role that aviation plays in Kentucky. Kentucky’s aviation-based economy is the third largest in the nation, behind California and Washington, bringing over 100,000 jobs and $23.7 billion into the Commonwealth’s economy, according to information in a news release.

Walker said that he and his wife, Elaine, acquired the aircraft in California and it took three years to complete its restoration.

The 1929 Curtiss Robin, which was originally manufactured by the Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company, was designed by Glenn Curtiss, an American aviation pioneer.

When Curtiss heard about Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis, he saw that as a great marketing opportunity, Walker said.

“Lindbergh flew in 1927 and Curtiss rolled out the Robin in 1928,” he said. “And that’s pretty amazing. Curtiss wanted to open people’s eyes to the world of aviation. That is more than loops at an air show and cropdusting. It can also be used for traveling great distances.”

So, he designed an aircraft that resembled Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis and asked Lindberg to test fly it, garnering more publicity for the aircraft.

“If you look at the picture of the Spirit of St. Louis and the Curtiss Robin, you can see the similarities,” Walker said. “He knew that picture and that story would make it to the front page of all the newspapers.”

Named after the bird, The Curtiss Robin was the most produced and purchased civilian plane between World War I and World War II. It also held amazing world records, according to Walker.

One of the most famous flights with a Robin was in 1938 when pilot Douglas Corrigan announced that he wanted to fly across the Atlantic nonstop.

He was refused official permission to attempt this flight, but he took off anyway. After officials told him to fly back from California, Walker said “he takes off, claims his compass failed, disappeared into the clouds and, some 30 hours later, landed in Ireland,” earning him the nickname “Wrong Way Corrigan.”

Walker said the Robin is “an amazing American aircraft – the one that is most responsible for taking us out of the barnstorming era into the era of commercial aviation.”

With an enclosed cabin, the pilot up front, upholstered passenger seats, its own boarding door and compartment and even sconces with flowers, “you could travel in style.”

“It was a great first step to commercial aviation,” he said. “And like I was telling a young student earlier, unless you wanted to wear goggles and a helmet in an open cockpit, the Robin was the better option.”

When the Robin is not at an airshow or an event, it is kept in a Co-Mar Aviation hangar in Bowling Green, where those who wish to see it can arrange a visit through the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport manager.

And because Friends of Aviation is a nonprofit, volunteer organization, Walker said they are always looking for sponsors for the Robin.

For more information about Friends of Aviation, visit the group’s Facebook page.