Abstract

ICOLSE returns to North America for the first time in 6 years to the Air Capital of the World, Wichita, Kansas, where over 25% of the world’s aircraft have been made and many aviation pioneers got their start. Wichita is the largest city in Kansas. Located on the Arkansas River, the city began as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s and was incorporated in 1870. It subsequently became the destination for cattle drives North from Texas to railroads, earning it the nickname “Cowtown”. In the 1920s and 1930s, businessmen and aeronautical engineers established aircraft manufacturing companies in Wichita. Home to multiple aircraft manufactures such as Textron Aviation, Bombardier, Spirit AeroSystems, and Boeing. The city was transformed into a hub of U.S. aircraft production and became known as “The Air Capital of the World”. Today there are many interesting sites in the Wichita area including botanical gardens, the Cosmosphere, the Kansas Aviation Museum, the Sedgwick County Zoo, Old Town, and the Keeper of the Plains.