On March 21, 2012 the Pima Air and Space Museum, one of the largest aviation museums in the world, flew a 45-foot paper airplane with a 24-foot wingspan. “This is quite possibly the largest ever constructed”, said Tim Vimmerstedt, the Museum’s Director of Operations and Community Affairs. The airplane was inspired by 12-year-old Tucson resident Arturo Valdenegro, whose paper airplane flew the farthest when he competed against hundreds of children in a regional paper airplane distance fly-off held at the museum in January. As winner of the contest, Valdenegro got to meet with the engineers who oversaw the design and build of the 800-pound paper airplane, which flew at an altitude of 2,703 feet and speed of 98 miles per hour.
At the end of July, the Pima Air & Space Museum placed their giant paper plane on temporary exhibit in the Flight Central Hangar, next to the F-14 Tomcat.
Then, beginning this weekend we will be placing a permanent exhibit dedicated to the Great Paper Airplane Project featuring many of the paper planes used in the fly-off and parts of the giant paper plane.
The second Great Paper Airplane Fly-Off will take place at the Museum on January 26, 2013. “We plan on making the fly-off part of our annual educational and community programing”, said Vimmerstedt.