Fort Wayne, IN
Downtown in the old Indiana Textile building, a restored early-1900s brick warehouse, and a Fort Wayne institution since 1999; the founders were, in their own telling, friends tired of drinking martinis and listening to Sinatra on a boombox in their garages, and their standing joke of a tagline is that nothing here is good for you, which is the way it should be. Steaks, a deep martini list, live jazz with no cover, and a patio in season. Two things to know before you fly in: closed Sundays, and the room is twenty-one and up except for occasional private events, so this is the date-night stop, not the family one. Promenade Park and the riverfront are a short walk west along Superior.
Originally Baer Field, a WWII Army Air Forces base established in 1941 and named for Lt. Paul Baer, Fort Wayne's WWI flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient. During the war, it trained fighter pilots in P-39 Airacobras and P-47 Thunderbolts. After the war, the base was transferred to the City of Fort Wayne for one dollar. The Indiana Air National Guard operated from here starting in 1946. The 122nd Fighter Wing (the 'Blacksnakes') still flies out of the adjacent ANG facility. Paul Baer scored 9 aerial victories in WWI and was the first American aviator to become an ace.
The St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers join to form the Maumee River right in downtown Fort Wayne — a striking three-rivers confluence visible on approach to either KSMD or KFWA. The historic Old Fort site (a reconstructed 1815 fort) marks Fort Wayne's namesake. Promenade Park along the river has reinvented the downtown waterfront. Fort Wayne — Indiana's second-largest city — has the most extensive park system per capita of any major Midwest city, much of it along the rivers and visible from above.
One of America's rarest surviving early-20th-century airport hangars. Built in 1930 with massive Truscon Steel Company doors — the only example of their kind in the country at the time. During WWII, the hangar produced TDR-1 Assault Drones, an early version of the cruise missile. Famous visitors over the decades included Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Doolittle, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Wiley Post. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The future home of the National Airmail Museum, which signed an MOU in 2024 to lease and restore the hangar — they need to raise $5M+ to complete the project. Tour the field by ground after landing — the Carousel Hangar is the only example of Clark W. Smith's patented rotating-door design ever built.
The only museum in the world dedicated to the office of Vice President of the United States. Located in former VP Dan Quayle's hometown of Huntington, IN, the museum covers all 49 (and counting) Vice Presidents — from John Adams to the present. Quirky, unexpected, and surprisingly thorough — most visitors leave knowing more about the second-most-important office than they ever expected. A worthwhile detour for political and history fans.
One of the world's great automotive museums, housed in the original 1929 Auburn Automobile Company headquarters — a stunning Art Deco landmark, itself a National Historic Landmark. Over 130 vehicles spanning the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg legacy: cars so beautiful and powerful they were the choice of Hollywood (Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Mae West) and royalty in the 1930s. The Cord 810 is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Every Labor Day weekend, the Auburn Auction draws 100,000+ collector car enthusiasts to town. The museum sits less than a mile from KGWB — easy crew car distance.