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Related Resources • Huntsville From A to Z • Huntsville Botanical Garden

Grab the kids and head for the Huntsville Botanical Garden.  Not only are the butterflies flitting about, but there are eight creative treehouses positioned throughout the Garden for everyone to climb on, explore and try-out.  Now through October 31st, you can be a kid again, if you dare, and inspect these little masterpieces.

The Fabulous Flying Fortress

Designed by Roy Nichols, and a group of retired engineers, scientists and an architect, including Nes Cumings, Ron Bledsoe, Clyde Pearson, Bill Snoddy, Dick Felix and Harry Reid, this treehouse (third from left, top row) is partially suspended from a tree and is an airplane configured as a jungle gym.  It is made of cedar, with colorful fabric patches on the wing, nose section and tail section.

The weight is supported on a gimbaled pedestal along with a cable suspension from its host tree, which allows some side-to-side and front-to-back movement in the airplane.  Children can climb inside to a platform where they can exercise a joystick that activates wing flaps; climb to an upper level where there is a water cannon that they can shoot at external targets, such as gongs and bulls' eyes hanging from an adjacent tree branch. The wing propellers are driven by water sprinklers and activated by passing adults or children.  There is also a ground station for wheelchair-bound children to join in the fun.

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©2003 Jean Brandau, licensed to About.com
Photo ©2003 Jean Brandau, licensed to About.com