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Kermit Weeks
Kermit Weeks (born July 14, 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration.
Oil and gas royalties from the Weeks Royalty, derived from his grandfather Lewis George Weeks' work, provide Weeks with the funds, capital, and resources to pursue the preservation of historic aircraft.
Weeks and his family moved to Miami, Florida when he was 14, and he began flying model aircraft and competing on the high school gymnastics team. At 17, with only model airplane flying experience, he began building his own home-built Der Jager D-IX (a biplane powered by a four-cylinder Lycoming O-320 engine). During his final year of high school Weeks spent almost all his spare time building his airplane; he finished it in about four years, and test flew it at age 21.
Weeks later learned to fly. He eventually purchased a Pitts S-2A in order to fly in aerobatic competition. In 1973 Weeks began entering aerobatic flying competitions while pursuing an aeronautical engineering degree at Miami-Dade Junior College, the University of Florida, and Purdue University.
By 1977 Weeks had built the "Weeks Special," an aerobatic aircraft of his own design, and qualified for the United States Aerobatics Team. In 1978 he was a runner-up among 61 competitors worldwide, earning three Silver medals and one Bronze medal in the FAI World Aerobatic Championships staged in Czechoslovakia. Over the span of a dozen years, he placed in the top three in the world five times and won a total of 20 medals in World Aerobatics Championship competition. He has twice won the United States National Aerobatics Championship and has won several Invitational Masters Championships in worldwide competitions.
Kermit's brother, Chris, was killed in a helicopter crash in the Everglades on 27 January 1979.
During the late 1970s, Weeks began to acquire, restore, and preserve vintage aircraft. By 1985 he had accumulated enough vintage aircraft to start the Weeks Air Museum in Miami. A non-profit facility, it housed much of his private collection and historic aircraft owned by the museum. Weeks then acquired a 250 acres (100 ha) site near Polk City, Florida, 20 mi (30 km) southwest of Walt Disney World, for an aviation-themed attraction called Fantasy of Flight.
In 1992, as development plans finalized for Fantasy of Flight, Hurricane Andrew struck the Miami area, virtually destroying the Weeks Air Museum facility and seriously damaging most of the vintage aircraft within it. Some of the collection, including a Grumman F4F Wildcat, P-51C Mustang, AT-6 Texan, and a recently repaired Stinson L-1 Vigilant, have been restored and are now displayed and flown at Fantasy of Flight, which opened in 1995.
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Kermit Weeks
Kermit Weeks (born July 14, 1953 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American aviation enthusiast, pilot, and aircraft collector. He has competed in aerobatics, designed aircraft, and promoted aviation and vintage aircraft restoration.
Oil and gas royalties from the Weeks Royalty, derived from his grandfather Lewis George Weeks' work, provide Weeks with the funds, capital, and resources to pursue the preservation of historic aircraft.
Weeks and his family moved to Miami, Florida when he was 14, and he began flying model aircraft and competing on the high school gymnastics team. At 17, with only model airplane flying experience, he began building his own home-built Der Jager D-IX (a biplane powered by a four-cylinder Lycoming O-320 engine). During his final year of high school Weeks spent almost all his spare time building his airplane; he finished it in about four years, and test flew it at age 21.
Weeks later learned to fly. He eventually purchased a Pitts S-2A in order to fly in aerobatic competition. In 1973 Weeks began entering aerobatic flying competitions while pursuing an aeronautical engineering degree at Miami-Dade Junior College, the University of Florida, and Purdue University.
By 1977 Weeks had built the "Weeks Special," an aerobatic aircraft of his own design, and qualified for the United States Aerobatics Team. In 1978 he was a runner-up among 61 competitors worldwide, earning three Silver medals and one Bronze medal in the FAI World Aerobatic Championships staged in Czechoslovakia. Over the span of a dozen years, he placed in the top three in the world five times and won a total of 20 medals in World Aerobatics Championship competition. He has twice won the United States National Aerobatics Championship and has won several Invitational Masters Championships in worldwide competitions.
Kermit's brother, Chris, was killed in a helicopter crash in the Everglades on 27 January 1979.
During the late 1970s, Weeks began to acquire, restore, and preserve vintage aircraft. By 1985 he had accumulated enough vintage aircraft to start the Weeks Air Museum in Miami. A non-profit facility, it housed much of his private collection and historic aircraft owned by the museum. Weeks then acquired a 250 acres (100 ha) site near Polk City, Florida, 20 mi (30 km) southwest of Walt Disney World, for an aviation-themed attraction called Fantasy of Flight.
In 1992, as development plans finalized for Fantasy of Flight, Hurricane Andrew struck the Miami area, virtually destroying the Weeks Air Museum facility and seriously damaging most of the vintage aircraft within it. Some of the collection, including a Grumman F4F Wildcat, P-51C Mustang, AT-6 Texan, and a recently repaired Stinson L-1 Vigilant, have been restored and are now displayed and flown at Fantasy of Flight, which opened in 1995.