The upcoming All Kansas Air Tour will do more than celebrate the 80th anniversary of the state’s arrival on the national aviation map.

The tour will touch down in Lawrence during the afternoon of April 5 – a date that could become historic around these parts for other reasons.

“That is, of course, Final Four weekend,” said Judy Billings, president and chief executive officer of Destination Management Inc., which manages the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Hopefully we will all have a reason to be glued to the television.”

Event planners are setting up a barbecue dinner and a television watch party at Lawrence Municipal Airport, confidently forecasting that the Kansas Jayhawks will be taking the court for the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

While a KU appearance in San Antonio might be expected to thin the ranks of some Lawrence-based aircraft – the official KU plane certainly wouldn’t be the only one dispatched to Texas for a Final Four run – the air tour still would be poised to draw a large crowd.

Some 30 aircraft already are lined up to participate in the tour, scheduled to run from April 1 to 8 and visit 26 Kansas communities. Opening day celebrations will be conducted in a number of communities, including a noon launch party in Baldwin City, followed by flights beginning April 2 in Wichita.

The goal: remind Kansans about the wonder of flight, show off the state’s robust aviation history, and recount the origins of a Kansas general-aviation industry that today generates $7 billion a year.

In 1928, Gov. Ben Paulen boarded planes for only the second time in his life and set out to celebrate what he considered the biggest thing ever attempted in Kansas: a 25-aircraft caravan making 21 stops across Kansas. The event would lead to Wichita proclaiming itself as the Air Capital of the World.

“It was probably the pinnacle point in Kansas going full-fledged into the aviation industry,” said Ed Young, director of aviation for the Kansas Department of Transportation. “That’s when it really took off. :

“It really did change the course of Kansas history.”

Young himself will be flying a bit of history: a 1944 Stearman biplane, designed and manufactured in Kansas. Lloyd Stearman is a founder of Boeing, a major player in Kansas’ aviation heritage that continues to include Cessna, Beechcraft, Bombardier and a division of the makers of Airbus.

For the upcoming tour, Lawrence’s stop will include displays, tours and social events involving activities and opportunities at Lawrence Municipal Airport, one of more than 140 airports in the state. Among the featured centers during the Lawrence stop will be KU’s aerospace engineering location, and some of the aircraft either developed or equipped there.

Young, himself a KU graduate, is looking forward to flying the entire tour and getting a chance to stay in Lawrence, sleeping under the wing of his biplane just as barnstormers did back in the day. But that Saturday in Lawrence, he’ll be hoping for big crowds at the airport, cheering for more than clear skies.

“This will give people something to do,” he said, “other than have all that nervous energy up until game time.”