AUGUSTA ? The Augusta Air Museum will prepare an Air Force One flight simulator for an exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Air Force One Pavilion.

The simulator, which is of a modified Boeing 707 model that served as Air Force One for more than 40 years, already had a tie to Kansas. Workers at Boeing Co.’s plant in Wichita, about 20 miles from Augusta, assembled much of the 707, including the presidential models.

“To us, it only makes sense that Kansas has to have a footprint in it,” said Steve Cannaby, director of operations for the simulator project. “This is why we have taken this project on.”

Boeing’s Wichita plant still modifies and maintains Air Force One, which is now a 747.

The Air Force One Simulator Kansas Project will formally kick off at 10 a.m. today at the Augusta Air Museum.

Cannaby said preparing the simulator for the exhibit likely will take two years, because volunteers will do the work and donations will fund it.

Organizers want to create an exhibit that shows the cockpit and offers some history.

“It’s not going to be just a cold, dead cockpit,” Cannaby said. “We want something a little snazzier. It will have a function about it.”

Augusta Air Museum Chairman Daron Clinesmith said the Ronald Reagan Presidential Air Force One Pavilion in Simi Valley, Calif., is an appropriate home for the simulator because Reagan flew the most missions and hours of any U.S. president.

“He didn’t like to talk to people on the phone,” said Clinesmith, who spent more than three years on the presidential support team and flew with Ronald or Nancy Reagan more than 25 times. “He wanted to do business in person.”