Aviation Museums

[Rolling-Thunder]

If you are passing thru western NY, pay a visit to the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum, in Hammondsport.

Motorcycles and airplanes - good combo...lol

 

[erj-145mech]

I don't know what it is called, but the one in Galveston, TX is pretty good.

That would be The Lone Star Flight Museum, www.lsfm.org. Its unique in that the aircraft are airworthy, and fly regularly in airshows throughout the United States.

 

[Sniper Bob]

It's kind of a niche museum, but Lubbock has the Silent Wings Museum. Mostly has WWII glider/glider training stuff. Located in the old terminal building, next to Lubbock Aero.


We also have the Buddy Holly Museum, which is sort of aviation related.

 

[westwind]

Like the others said, the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola rocks, and it's free, or at least it was a few years ago. Wings over the Rockies http://www.wingsmuseum.org/ is worth a visit if you have the time while in Denver. They have some WWII, Korean War and Vietnam era airplanes. They even have an X-Wing fighter (WTF?).

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Been to Wright-Patterson, the best one I've seen so far. Toured half of it with an 82 year old former WWII pilot. Stood at the B-25 which had a plaque that said top spped 290. He turned to me and said he got it up over 400 when being chased by the Japs. Nothing cooler than that.

Also been to Elmira. Rate it so-so. A day trip if you have time to kill.

The Interpid is good. Really enjoyed seeing a video they have of George Herbert Walker Bush being pulled from his life raft out in the pacific after being shot down. The man holding the camera was only about 20 feet away when they pull him out. Bush starts walking towards him, smiles and looks at the camera and there's a 19 year old future President. Wow!

Went to Planes of Fame in May. Pretty good for a small place.

The one at BDL is decent too. I'd visit that one again if in the area.

Mr. I.

 

[EagleRJ]

These are worth the visit:

NASM- Washington- still the standard for the others.

New England Air Museum- Windsor Locks, CT
It's a smaller museum, but they have a lot of interesting stuff, and it's more up-close and hands-on than others.

Kansas Cosmosphere- Hutchison, KS
The focus is obviously on space here. They have a lot of genuine artifacts, including an Apollo capsule and things from the X-plane projects.

EAA Museum- Oshkosh, WI
Surprisingly large and polished museum with a lot of things to see. Has a lot of hands-on stuff for the kids (and grownups!). I like the Pioneer Airport, a short grass strip outside the museum that is set up like an airport from the barnstorming days of the '20s, complete with several dozen aircraft from the era.1

Imperial War Museum, London and Duxford
The Duxford annex is exclusively aviation, but the main museum in downtown London is world-class, and worth a visit. It's one of the only places I know of where you can see real V-1 and V-2 rockets.

Planes of Fame Air Museum- Chino, CA
Lots of rare stuff here, even if the museum has a cluttered layout with amateurish displays. One thing I like about the museum is all the pieces that are just shoved into a corner unrestored. It's amazing some of the things you can see: '50s target drones, old Whittle-type engines just lying around, and the forward fuselage of a B-50.
There are several warbird restoration shops on the field, too.

USAF Museum- Dayton, OH
A close second to NASM. Lots of rare stuff, and they're getting experimental prototypes all the time for display. They have at least one example of every aircraft the Army Air Corp, Army Air Force and USAF has operated or evaluated.

 

[Lead Sled]

My favorite is the USAF Museum in Dayton, followed by the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. After that comes the National Air and Space Museum. There was another small museum that I came across, by accident, while out on a trip 3 or 4 years ago. I don't remember where it was, but it was great. The county turned the old 1950's vintage airline terminal into a local aviation history museum. I could have spent several hours there, as it was, I had to hurry through it.

'Sled

 

[C425Driver]

Tops on my list in no particular order:

New England Air Museum, BDL, Windsor Locks, CT

Kansas Cosmosphere, Somewhere in the KS - Home of the Apollo 13 and Liberty Bell 7 Capsules

Air and Space Museum, DC - Haven't been to the new annex at IAD yet. That's on the list of things to do.

Air Force Museum, Datyon OH

USS Intrepid, NYC

USS Lexington, Corpus Christi, TX

Kennedy Space Center

EAA Museum, OSH

Pearl Harbor, HI

Mid Atlantic Air Museum, Reading, PA - I think that's the name and location. They are restoring a P-61 Black Widow to flying condition there.

Naval Aviation Museum, PNS

 

[Flylo]

What about Ft Rucker

Has anyone been to the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker, Alabama (near Enterprise)?

Is it mostly helicopters or do they have fixed wings, other than the Model "B" Wright Flyer which I know about, on display also?

http://www.armyavnmuseum.org/museum/exhibits/images/wright.jpg

Just wondering if it's worth the trip since I'm not too far away.

Thanks for any information.

 

[CFIcare]

Yesterday I had 10 hours to kill in Lincoln Nebraska. The nice folks at Duncan Aviation let me take the crew car to the Strategic Air and Space museum in Ashland which is about a 30 minute car ride, about halfway between Lincoln and Omaha. It's all reconnaissance aircraft (and space craft.) They've got quite a neat collection of stuff. The SR-71 that is right in your face as you walk in is an awesome sight. They also have a great collection including a B-36, B-52, B1, B-58, F111, F102, a MiG 21, a cool assortment of old NASA rocket launch consoles, a nice J58 engine to gawk at, and an excellent Korean War display. There are uniforms, memorabilia, artwork, video presentations to see...There is also a cut away of a B-25, and in fact there is a B-25 there that was the one Richard Joyce flew during Doolittle's Tokyo Raid.

There's a restaurant at the museum that overlooks the restoration hangar too. It's all indoors, and it makes for a great afternoon. It was a surprising find, considering it is one of the more "off the beaten path" museums I've been to.


www.strategicairandspace.com