NASHUA – It’s a great way to get summer off the ground!

The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire will hold its annual Father’s Day Weekend Fly-In BBQ on Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nashua’s Boire Field.

The public is welcome to enjoy a BBQ buffet lunch and get a close look at visiting aircraft parked on the ramp.

Pilots are invited to fly in, with vintage airplanes and home-built aircraft especially welcome.

Tickets to the ‘Welcome Summer Fly-In BBQ’ are $30 adults; $25 museum members; $10 ages 6 to 12; kids 5 and under, free. Ramp tickets (without BBQ lunch) are $10 per person, with kids 12 and under free.

Tickets may be bought in advance via Eventbrite.com at https://tinyurl.com/2s4jemw6

This year’s event will include a special visitor: an historic Consolidated PBY-5A ‘Catalina’ flying boat, which will be on display.

The vintage World War II-era aircraft will also offer 30-minute flights to the public during the event.

The aircraft, nicknamed ‘The Flying Turtle’ is one of only a handful of Catalina amphibious aircraft still flying. More than 3,000 were produced from 1936 to 1945, with the aircraft playing a major role in World War II.

The ‘Flying Turtle,’ which travels throughout the nation and around the Caribbean, will be on display to BBQ guests and ramp visitors from 10 a.m. to noon.

In the afternoon, the aircraft will offer 30-minute rides to paying passengers. Rides cost $350 per person, with proceeds used for aircraft fuel, restoration, and maintenance. Rides may be booked in advance at www.historicairtours.com.

For walk-up passengers, a limited number of seats may be available at the June 18 event.

“Getting Dad a ride on a vintage World War II amphibious aircraft makes a memorable Father’s Day gift,” said Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum of N.H.

The BBQ Fly-In takes place at the hangar of Nashua Jet Aviation, 83 Perimeter Road at Nashua Airport.

A barbecue buffet will be served at noon in the hangar. The meal includes salad, pasta, barbecued chicken, pulled pork, baked beans, desserts, and drinks.

The public is invited to attend the event, held each year on Father’s Day weekend to mark the approach of summer, which officially arrives the following Tuesday.

Families can mingle with pilots and inspect the aircraft, giving young people a rare chance to see real airplanes up close.

Other vintage aircraft expected to be on display include a restored World War II-era Fairchild PT-23 training airplane, which was recently acquired by the New England Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, a historic aircraft preservation organization.

The event will include the Aviation Museum’s “Rob Holland Experience,” a virtual reality exhibit that gives non-pilots a chance to fly with Nashua-based world aerobatics champion Rob Holland.

Using virtual reality goggles, participants can see what it’s like to perform breath-taking flight maneuvers that have brought Holland multiple aerobatics championships around the world.

“This popular exhibit has been in storage during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, but it’s now time to get it out again to give visitors a chance to fly along with Rob Holland, Nashua’s hometown aviation hero,” Rapsis said.

Attendees can also learn about the Aviation Museum’s student plane-building partnership with the Manchester (N.H.) School of Technology, where high school students are in the final stages of completing their first aircraft–a Van’s Aircraft RV-12iS.

“People can try their hands at assembling a vertical stabilizer, which will help work up an appetite for the barbecue,” Rapsis said.

Those attending may buy tickets in advance online on Eventbrite at https://tinyurl.com/2s4jemw6 or by calling the Aviation Museum at (603) 669-4877.

All proceeds of the fly-in barbecue benefit the non-profit Aviation Museum.

The Aviation Museum of N.H., based in the 1937 art deco passenger terminal at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, is dedicated to preserving the Granite State’s rich aviation past, and also inspiring students today to become the aerospace pioneers of tomorrow.

The Aviation Museum of N.H. is a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. For more information, visit www.aviationmuseumofnh.org or call (603) 669-4820.