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Aviation Museums

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urflyingme?!

urflyingme?!

Man Among Men
Joined
Feb 17, 2004
Posts
1,275
What are your guys' favorite aviation history places to go?
These can be museums, airports, websites, anywhere with a good message.

My favorite would be the museum at Boeing field, and the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier in NY. I went to the Smithsonian but was too young to remember, although I do remember seeing the rockets my grandfather designed(had to include it!)

Any others?????
 
I like the Pima Air Museum in Tucson AZ. Huge collection and really nice people.
 
The one at Fox field (KWJF) by lancaster... it's free and you can design your own tour (just ask the tanker guys before you walk across their ramp to get there), ;)
 
VNugget said:
The one at Fox field (KWJF) by lancaster... it's free and you can design your own tour (just ask the tanker guys before you walk across their ramp to get there), ;)
Click to expand...

Wait... there's one for the I never thread ;)

I never came across a KC-97 that was unlocked.
 
Joint Services Open House (JSOH) at Andrews AFB every May. Last year they had the -22 and the -35 on static. Incredible aircraft.

A couple years ago they had the Blues and the T-Birds lined up on the ramp side-by-side, but neither team flew as I recall because they didn't get their ceiling.

Udvar-Hazy out at IAD is pretty shweet.

The museum at Duxford (UK) is cool as well.... it's a few miles outside Cambridge.

Kitty Hawk's kinda neat for the history.

Anybody been out to Wright-Patterson?

I spent two years at school in D.C., and Gravelly Point (off the approach end of 19 at DCA) rocked. Surprised they didn't shut it down after 9/11. 752s are the biggest birds you'll see there, but it's one of the coolest places around in my opinion.
 
Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, FL. Nice collection of aircraft and some fun interactive displays.

Smithsonian to see actual historic and record breaking aircraft. Haven't made it to the Udvar-Hazy annex yet, but I'm sure that is good.

Planes of Fame West in Chino, CA is good.

The Musuem at Wright-Patterson is worth the trip.


Typhoonpilot
 
TrafficInSight said:
I like the Pima Air Museum in Tucson AZ. Huge collection and really nice people.
Click to expand...

I was jumpseating up front in a 757 the other day after an overnight in Tucson and the Captain and FO scolded me (in a joking manner) for not going to the PIMA museum. They both said it was top notch.
 
I agree with TrafficInSight...

Pima Air Museum in Tucson is defintely worth your time. The volunteers that work there are typically ex-pilots from WWII and other conficts, and offer a wealth of knowledge and great stories to anyone who asks the right questions!

I also enjoyed the Wright-Patterson museum in Dayton - great set of aircraft and artifacts from all era's and the best part... it's all free!

One day though I'll pay pilgrimage to the Smithsonian!
 
typhoonpilot said:
Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, FL. Nice collection of aircraft and some fun interactive displays.

Smithsonian to see actual historic and record breaking aircraft. Haven't made it to the Udvar-Hazy annex yet, but I'm sure that is good.

Planes of Fame West in Chino, CA is good.

The Musuem at Wright-Patterson is worth the trip.


Typhoonpilot
Click to expand...

Planes of Fame was awesome when I visited this summer. The gentleman that owns it put on a display in an aircraft who's name I can't recall, rotated in 200', slowflight at 25 kias( or something close to it). Very cool place and well worth the trip to the middle of nowhere. I don't know how it faired during the hurricanes but I hope they got the planes out of there...
 
Also, if you get the chance, a satellite operation of the Pima museum is the Titan Missile Museum... It is, I think, in Green Valley AZ. You will go inside an actual Titan II missile silo with a missile still in it.

My stepfather was a missile tech in the Air Force and spent many long weeks inside the silo. When you see it you'll be amazed that they spent so much time underground.

He used to say "I joined the Air Force to see the world and they put me 70 feet underground 30 miles from my hometown."
 
Thanks, Acrochik

I was trying to remember the name of that place. I keep missing out on going. Back in 1990 I arranged a trip there for my local CAP squadron in Boston but ended up having to fly a trip at the last minute and couldn't go. I'll get there someday though.

TP
 
theres a yearly show in elmira, ny thats supposed to be pretty good, never was able to make it down to it 'wings of eagles' or something i think, they also have a decent little warbird museum down there that i've seen parts of when i've gone thru there for work
 
the udvar-hazy museum is pretty bad a$$, i checked it out this past fall. there's nothing quite like walking in and staring directly down the nose of an SR-71 Blackbird, only to see a space shuttle in the background. lots of warbirds as well as early jets (falcon 10, prototype boeing 707, a freakin' CONCORDE!) well worth the price of admission, if i do say so myself. the air and space museum hasn't changed much over the years, so it gets old after going a few times. the cool thing about udvar-hazy is that there is an observation tower where you can watch planes take off and land at dulles. i don't recall any of those pay binoculars, though, so take a video camera or your own binoculars, you are still kind of far away. they say that there are still many planes that have to be restored and brought to the new site at dulles, on top of what is already out there. if you're in the D.C. area, stop on by. good times to be had by all.
 
User997 said:
I agree with TrafficInSight...

Pima Air Museum in Tucson is defintely worth your time. The volunteers that work there are typically ex-pilots from WWII and other conficts, and offer a wealth of knowledge and great stories to anyone who asks the right questions!

I also enjoyed the Wright-Patterson museum in Dayton - great set of aircraft and artifacts from all era's and the best part... it's all free!

One day though I'll pay pilgrimage to the Smithsonian!
Click to expand...

What you said. Don't know if you still can post 9/11, but if possible while at Pima, see if there is still a way to get the guided tour through the bone yard at Davis-Monthan. Used to be some really rare stuff out there. ie. Turbine P51 that was a discount applicant for the A-10 job years ago.

Smithsonian is pretty good. I like Wright Pat. and Pima more for the airplanes, but Smithsonian is great for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo stuff. Pima and W/P let you get more up close and personal with the planes than the Smithsonian.
 
My first x-country Solo was to FFA. The smithsonian is great. My next quest is the intrepid in NYC.
 
Don't miss out on America's first guided misile subamarine next door, admission is included i believe...

They have a sweet inertial guidance system on it too
 
If you are into Navy stuff, Patriots point in CHS is pretty good. Yorktown CVN, Submarine, CG Cutter and Destroyer. Pretty decent collection of aircraft on the Yorktown.
 
New England Air Museum at BDL is pretty cool. They've done a lot of restoration work in the past couple years so a lot of the planes that were sitting as junk out in their yard are now restored and sitting inside. Just added a B-29 to the inventory and are in the process of creating an exhibit to go with it.
 
Pima was great. The docent giving the details of the sr-71 was really cool. Great people at Pima. Met a b24 pilot and a p47 pilot. Great guys with amazing anecdotes.... I think you need at least a full day to see all of planes, including the trip to the boneyard. Which I will have to do next trip...
The Boeing field museum is darn nice also...
 
My favorites are the Museum of Flight in Seattle and the Smithsonian. I haven't made it to the new annex at Dulles yet. For a special treat, you can go to the Museum of Flight Restoration Center at Paine Field (Everett, WA) and wander around their warehouse and restoration center freely. Boeing keeps their mint 247 there as well.

The most disappointing aviation museum I've been to was just outside of Narita Airport in Japan.
 
Pima in Tucson and Rhinebeck Aerodrome in NY.
 
My favorite: MMV, McMinnville, Oregon. Evergreen has a museum that tops them all.
When you look at the Tri-Motor Ford parked under the wing of the Spruce Goose you can see how big it is.
The Goose was off limits, but after a long conversation the guide took me on a tour. Went out into the wings (11 foot spars) and up into the cock pit. I even got in the seat HH sit in when it flew. What an aircraft!
They have many others worth seeing.
Also enjoyed the Navy museum at PNS and the Air Force near MCN.

HEADWIND
 
I'm suprised it took that many posts to mention the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, clearly one of the best.

I enjoyed the museum in Chino CA as well, it's cool to be around actively flying warbirds.

Although small and modest, the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum on Lake Hood is worth visiting, you could learn a lot about aviation history in AK.
 
In Canada we have these ones that I have vistied:

Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario
All about bush planes: Noorduyn Norseman, Otters, Beavers, Beech 18
www.bushplane.com/

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, Hamilton, Ontario
Avro Lancaster, Spitfire & others up and flying
www.warplane.com

Canada Aviation Museum, Ottawa, Ontario
Canada's national aviation museum
www.aviation.technomuses.ca

RCAF Memorial Museum, Trenton, Ontario
Currently restoring a Halifax bomber
www.rcafmuseum.on.ca

Toronto Aerospace Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Building a full size model of a Avro Arrow, Canada's supersonic airplane of the 1950's. An interesting story of the plane that never was.
www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com
 
I don't know what it is called, but the one in Galveston, TX is pretty good. RAF Hendon just north of London is great for older stuff, pre WWII and WWII planes. Duxford just outside of Cambridge, England is great also. The old tour at the Johnson Space Center was pretty good, before they made it into an attraction. The guided bus tours at the Kennedy Space Center is pretty cool as well, especially the "Saturn 5" tour.
 
Heyas all,


The AF museum at Warner-Robbins AFB (south of Macon) is a nice pitstop if you are driving down I-75.

Ditto the others on Pima. Seeing the entire Century series (F-100,101,102 etc) all lined up was too cool.

Nu
 
Wright-Patterson in Dayton, OH is awsome.

Also, the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL (home of the Blue Angels) has a pretty good museum, too.
 

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