Weekend Top Pick: The CMC’s 1940s Day at Lunken Airport!

Looking for some weekend inspiration? Our Weekend Top Pick is plucked straight from the ’40s, complete with music, airplanes, classic cars and more! The CMC’s 1940s Day at Lunken Airport is this Saturday, August 11, and it promises to be a jumpin’ and jivin’ good time.

Grab your dancing shoes, put on your red lipstick and travel back in time to the 1940s with Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC). 1940s Day happens this Saturday, Aug. 11, and will feature WWII veterans, a Holocaust survivor, classic cars and vintage airplanes, including a B-25 bomber. 

As Union Terminal nears the completion of its historic restoration, 1940s Day is back again at Lunken Airport, another classic Art Deco building. The tarmac and halls of the historic airfield will echo with the sounds of live jazz music and glisten with the polished chrome of classic cars and vintage warbirds.

1940s Day is an immersive celebration of the pivotal decade of the 1940s, including its music, fashion, vehicles and the people who shaped it. Honor Flight will highlight the service of WWII veterans featured in their book Legacy of Courage I & II and veterans will be on hand throughout the day to share tales of their battles halfway around the globe. A Holocaust survivor will share stories of sacrifice and survival during a lecture presented in partnership with the Holocaust and Humanity Center. Local entrepreneur and mixologist Molly Wellmann will take you on a journey through Cincinnati’s drinking history as part of CMC’s Insights Lecture series.

You can also admire the sleek lines and polished chrome of vintage cars from the 1920s, 30s and 40s during the classic car show. The Cincinnati Warbirds and Tri-State Warbird Museum will also have a collection of vintage planes parked on the tarmac to inspire the young aviator in all guests.

The B-25 Axis Nightmare is also returning and will provide the perfect backdrop for a photo op with those women inspired by Rosie the Riveter. Naomi Park Fraley, the real life inspiration for Rosie the Riveter, passed away this year at age 96 and CMC is asking women to dress up in her honor for a photo to commemorate the service of hundreds of thousands of women who served in the armed forces and on the home front during the war.

Jazz music from the P&G Big Band, Daniel Bennett and the Dirty Shirleys and the Queen City Sisters will have you dancing the jitterbug all day. If you need tips, Cincy Hop is ready to show you how to jump, jive and swing on the dance floor.

If you’re feeling particularly dapper, you can also enter our 1940s Day costume contest. If you forgot your costume, Casablanca Vintage Clothing is sure to have just what you need. And if your outfit looks the part but you need some tips on how to make your hairdo the bee’s knees or how to perfect your makeup, there will be live vintage hair and makeup demonstrations.

1940s Day has plenty of opportunities for you to learn, get involved and enjoy yourself. Groups including the USO Chapter of Central and Southern Ohio, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Lebanon Railroad Museum and the Cincinnati Fire Museum will all have displays on view all day. WMKV Radio, Media Heritage and Herzog Music will help provide additional sounds of the era. And Aglamesis Brothers and a selection of local food trucks will be on hand to keep you fueled up throughout the day.

1940s Day is free for veterans and CMC Members. For more information visit cincymuseum.org/events/1940s-day.