The Bleckley Foundation in Wichita is hosting an open house on Sunday to show the restoration work on the DH-4 biplane similar to the one flown by a local Medal of Honor recipient during World War I.

The Foundation has been working to restore a 1918 biplane like the one flown by Erwin Bleckley of Wichita.  He was an Army aviator who was killed along with his co-pilot when their plane was shot down by German forces in France on October 6, 1918.   The 23-year-old Bleckley was looking for a “lost battalion” that had been cut off and surrounded by German forces on the ground.    He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

The open house will be held Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bleckley workshop at 359 North Mosley in Old Town.   A vintage DH-4 aircraft was brought to Wichita in May, 2021 for restoration work.