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Aviation museums - the big list

Cessna Dude

Cessna Dude

Superior Pilot
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
6,260
Location
San Antonio, TX
I think it might be helpful to make a list of all the significant aviation museums in the US and abroad and build a page of links to their websites. Might be a good resource for the club. What air museums can you think of? (Please give location with name).

National Air & Space Museum - Washington D.C.
National Air & Space Museum Annex - Dulles, VA
Pima Air & Space Museum - Pima, AZ
National Naval Aviation Museum - Pensacola, FL
Texas Air Museum - San Antonio, TX
Lone Star Flight Museum - Galveston, TX
Air Mobility Command Museum - Dover AFB, DE
Museum of Flight - Seattle, WA
Space Center Houston - Clear Lake, TX
Wright Brothers National Memorial - Kitty Hawk, NC
 
Kermit Week's Fantasy of Flight.
Orlampa airport.
(Near Orlando)
 
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. I live about an hour from it. It's located in McMinnville OR and has the Spruce Goose! Awesome to see.
 
The San Francisco Bay Area has a number of nearby museums within an hour's flight:

The Oakland Aviation Museum Oakland, CA (next to KOAK)
Hiller Aviation Museum San Carlos, CA (at KSQL)
Castle Air Museum Atwater, CA (next to KMER)
Wings of History Museum San Martin, CA (at E16)
Estrella Warbirds Museum Paso Robles, CA (at KPRB)
Pacific Coast Air Museum Santa Rosa, CA (at KSTS)
Aerospace Museum of California McClellan CA (next to KMCC)
Travis Air Museum Fairfield, CA (on Travis AFB)

There are at least as many in the southern half of the state!
 
Also, the Air Museum at the Richmond International Airport, Richmond, Virginia is a good one to visit. It also includes the Virginia Aviators Hall of Fame.
 
California Flyer" said:
The San Francisco Bay Area has a number of nearby museums within an hour's flight:

The Oakland Aviation Museum Oakland, CA (next to KOAK)
Hiller Aviation Museum San Carlos, CA (at KSQL)
Castle Air Museum Atwater, CA (next to KMER)
Wings of History Museum San Martin, CA (at E16)
Estrella Warbirds Museum Paso Robles, CA (at KPRB)
Pacific Coast Air Museum Santa Rosa, CA (at KSTS)
Aerospace Museum of California McClellan CA (next to KMCC)
Travis Air Museum Fairfield, CA (on Travis AFB)

There are at least as many in the southern half of the state!
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California Flyer, have you visited all these museums? Would you please tell me which one is best to see?
 
Of all those, the only ones I have been to are the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field and the WAAM at Hood River. Both excellent. Hopefully I will get a chance to see some of the others.
 
While on a tour in England last month we took a day to visit the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon. This is a fantastic museum with 6 very large hangars filled with planes. We spent an entire day there and just managed to get through two of the hangars. All of the planes were designed and built in England, and all of them were new to me.
So if you happen to find yourself in London this is well worth the trip!
 
genel said:
While on a tour in England last month we took a day to visit the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon. This is a fantastic museum with 6 very large hangars filled with planes. We spent an entire day there and just managed to get through two of the hangars. All of the planes were designed and built in England, and all of them were new to me.
So if you happen to find yourself in London this is well worth the trip!
Click to expand...
Need to add Duxford while in the UK. Lots of hangars with lots of history there. Many a/c in the process of repairs for the next flying season, or being restored to be added to the list of flying history.
 
Don't forget the Shuttleworth Collection. Mainly pre-WW2. I think they fly some of the planes on summer weekends. Beautiful grass strip in the English countryside. It's been 20 years or so since a quick weekday visit.
 
joon said:
California Flyer, have you visited all these museums? Would you please tell me which one is best to see?
Click to expand...
I am obviously not California flyer, nor have I visited any of these, save for castle.

But I want to put in a plug for castle- it has many neat planes. Easy fly in/out, too.

Oakland has a landing fee now, sadly.
 
The Aviation museum of Santa Paula is only open every first Sunday of the month and is rather small, but it has interesting bits and pieces ranging from Lindbergh to Star Trek.

Aviation museum of Santa Paula

Our primary purpose is to provide facilities and displays for the education of visitors, including children, and to encourage the enjoyment of aviation.
www.aviationmuseumofsantapaula.org www.aviationmuseumofsantapaula.org
 
SFDukie said:
I am obviously not California flyer, nor have I visited any of these, save for castle.

But I want to put in a plug for castle- it has many neat planes. Easy fly in/out, too.
Click to expand...
Castle is great! I haven't been there in a few years, but I did make it to one of their open house days some time ago. I took my dad, and he told some stories of his time as a navigator in a B-17 bomber during WWII as we toured the museum's B-17. The open house days were great because many of the aircraft had volunteers who were staffing the exhibits who had flown on the same types of equipment. It looks like the next Open Cockpit Day is May 18th 2024.

Castle has military aircraft, focusing on WW2 and newer. They have the bulk of their aircraft outdoors but also have an indoor museum with various artifacts relating to aviation and military history. The B-36 Peacemaker and B-52 bomber tend to get the most attention because they are so large, but there are plenty of other aircraft to check out in the collection. You can wander around the outside during opening hours and crawl up into most of them during the Open Cockpit days.

The added benefit of flying in there is you get to experience a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNGGGG runway landing. It's a former SAC base where B-52s were stationed. You can land and take off and land again and still make the last turnoff :)
 
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