SPENCER — The N.C. Transportation Museum’s Wind & Wings: The Science of Flight and BSA Aviation Day events will feature all things related to aviation, including speakers, demos, exhibits and tours.

Visitors can enjoy the public event on March 25 from 10a.m. – 3 p.m. Scouts are welcome to enjoy aviation activities from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. to earn their Aviation Merit Badge.

This annual aviation event will include wind tunnel experiments, foam plate gliders, DC-3 Tours, Wright Stuff Simulators, Experimental Aircraft Association 1083, Kate Wright portrayed by Theresa Pierce, Cardinal Gibbons High School Robotics, Novant Med Flight helicopter (subject to change depending on weather or emergency calls), remote control flyers, Wright Brother’s expert Chip Walton and Women in Aviation – First in Flight Chapter.

Special guest speaker John Lancaster will speak on “The Great Air Race,” a book he authored and will have available for signing. The book reclaims one of the most important moments in the history of American aviation: the transcontinental air race of October 1919 that saw scores of pilots compete for the fastest roundtrip time between New York and San Francisco in frail, open-cockpit biplanes. The aviators — most of them veterans of the Great War — pioneered the first coast-to-coast air route, braving blizzards and driving rain as they landed in fields or at the edges of cliffs. The race was won by a North Carolinian, Army Lt. Belvin Maynard, who grew up in Sampson County and attended Wake Forest Theological Seminary. Presentations will be at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Scouts can take part in a train ride, flag ceremonies, hot dog lunch and workshops to help earn their Aviation Merit Badge. Scouts will learn about how planes work, aviation terms, careers in aviation, pilot certificates and create a FPG-9 to take home. Cost is $35.10 per Scout and the registration/payment deadline is March 17.

Train rides will be available throughout the day at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. and can be combined with general admission for $16 for adults, $14 for seniors/military, $12 for children 3-12 years of age, and free for members and children under age 3. General admission without the train ride is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors/military, and $6 for children 3-12 years of age, and free for children under 3. Tax and ticketing fees apply.

For more information, go to https://www.nctransportationmuseum.org/wind-and-wings/ or call the N.C. Transportation Museum at 704-636-2889. To register for BSA Scouts Aviation Day, go to https://www.nctransportationmuseum.org/bsa-aviation-day/, or call June Hall at 980-305-6274 or Karen Bryant at 980-305-6282.