What does the 2022 Waiex-B One Week Wonder have in common with Space Shuttle Discovery, the B-29 Enola Gay, and Bob Hoover’s Shrike Commander? As of May 14, 2025, they all share a home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington D.C.
Waiex-B N220WW, built in just seven days by more than 2,200 volunteers during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022, is now part of the permanent collection on display in the Boeing Aviation Hangar. It joins an extraordinary lineup of historic and experimental aircraft—making it a visible and enduring example of what today’s kit builders can achieve.
“Thousands of people participated in the building of this ‘One Week Wonder’ at Oshkosh just a few years ago to show that building your own airplane is attainable,” said Charlie Becker, EAA’s director of chapters, communities, and homebuilt community manager, who accompanied the aircraft on its journey to the museum. “Now as many as a million people every year will see this aircraft as an example of a modern kit aircraft that can be built with simple hand tools by just about anyone.”
From Oshkosh to the Udvar-Hazy Center
The One Week Wonder earned its airworthiness certificate on the final day of AirVenture 2022 and made its first flight a few weeks later on August 18. Until this spring, it remained part of EAA’s collection before being transferred to the Smithsonian.
“This airplane will impress visitors with the innovation and technology that is everywhere in the homebuilding movement and recreational aviation,” said Russell Lee, curator of homebuilt aircraft at the National Air and Space Museum. “Although one of the smallest airplanes displayed at the Udvar-Hazy Center, its power to excite visitors about the freedom of flight equals the largest aircraft displayed here.”
Want to relive the build? Check out photos and videos from the Waiex-B One Week Wonder project on our AirVenture 2022 Report and watch the first flight video.
A New Neighborhood of Aviation Icons
Waiex-B N220WW now sits between the Boeing 307 Stratoliner “Clipper Flying Cloud” and the Bell XV-15 Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft, and just steps away from:
- Concorde Fox Alpha
- Bob Hoover’s Shrike Commander
- “Dash 80,” the Boeing 707 prototype barrel-rolled by Tex Johnston
- “Little Gee Bee,” the homebuilt flown by George Bogardus to convince the FAA’s predecessor that amateur-built aircraft were safe and practical
Its placement is symbolic. “Little Gee Bee” helped pave the way for amateur-built certification in 1952, ultimately leading to Paul Poberezny founding EAA. Now, the Waiex-B stands as a modern embodiment of that legacy.
This isn’t the first John Monnett–designed aircraft to appear in the museum, either. A customer-built Moni Motorglider also hangs nearby—proof that the homebuilt spirit has long had a place among the greats.
