Aircraft and Aviation Museums

United States of America

John Hopkinson's Aviation Pages

Bell P63 Kingcobra WW2 fighter

Where is the engine? A flying example of the World War 2 mid-engined Bell P63 Kingcobra fighter based at Chino, California with its nose panels removed.

United States .... interesting places to visit

Wright Brothers Monument, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina .... Where it all started

• On December 17th 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright made three successful flights. The first recognised heavier than air powered controlled flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The longest flight was about 200 metres.

The visitor centre at the Kitty Hawk site

• These successful flights were the culmination of some three years experiments by the self taught brothers, who financed their experiments from their cycle business in Dayton, Ohio. The brothers had been in contact with all the leading aeronautical theorists of the day but carried out their own research including building an early wind tunnel.

A beautiful flying example of a mid 1930s bi-plane based at the Wright airstrip

Former Champlin Fighter Museum at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona

• This museum is now closed and the aircraft collection dispersed.

• The Champlin Fighter Museum was at Falcon Field Airport, Mesa on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona and was easily accessible from Phoenix or Scottsdale

• This beautifully maintained museum contained aircraft from World War2 and World War 1 (although most of the WW1 aircraft are replicas rather than original planes).

Messerschmitt Bf109 - the most numerous German fighter

• The WW2 aircraft included an example of both German and Japanese fighter design.

Japanese Kawanishi N1K1-J known as 'George' by the Allies

• The collection also included jet fighters from the 1950s, including the F86 Sabre and its opponent in the skies of Korea, the Soviet MiG 15. The MiG 15 was combination of Russian design, based on German wartime swept wing research and British based jet engine technology - the British government as good will gesture supplied examples of the latest Rolls-Royce Nene jet engines to the Soviets which were copied, developed and put into mass production by the Soviets,

Soviet MiG 15 - 'state of the art' jet fighter in the early 1950s - the MiG's heavy calibre cannons were intended for shooting down bombers

• The MiG 15's appearance over Korea threatened the UN Forces air superiority and led to the F86 being rapidly moved to Korea - leading to the first swept wing air dog fights.

North American F86 Sabre

• The museum was also the home of the American Fighter Aces Association and attempts to list -usually with a photograph and personal details - all fighter 'aces', allied and enemy from WW1, WW2, and the Korean War onwards. An 'ace' is defined as a fighter pilot with 5 or more confirmed 'kills'. In addition there is also a fine exhibition of automatic machine guns.

• Falcon Field was used by the Royal Air Force to train British pilots in WW2. Falcon Field enjoys year round sunshine in the Arizona Desert, the only problem was that having learned to fly in such ideal conditions, most of the pilots then had to fly operationally and learn to navigate in the grey cloudy skies of Britain and Western Europe! There is a memorial to over 20 pupils and instructors who never made it back home and were killed in flying accidents. Their remains are buried in a nearby cemetery.

Fantasy of Flight, Florida

Kermit Week's unique flying example of the Short Sandringham flying boat

• If you are in the Orlando area, Florida, then multi-millionaire Kermit Week's aircraft collection at Polk City, Florida (just off the Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa) housed in a purpose built facility is well worth a visit.

• The collection includes a unique flying example of Martin B26 Maruader medium bomber.

The World's only airworthy B26 Marauder

• Kermit weeks keeps his personal rare P51B Mustang available for flying at all times.

Kermit Week's beautiful silver P51B Mustang

• There is also an example of the WW2 vertical take-off rocket powered German Natter target defence fighter.

Natter rocket powered vertically launched interceptor

A flying example of the Consolidated B24 Liberator seen at the Fantasy of Flight airfield

• For more information on Fantasy of Flight, click here

Warbird Air Museum, Kissimmee

• Another place to visit if you are in the central Florida area is Warbird Air Museum at Kissimmee Airfield, just outside Orlando. This is an active work shop rather than a museum which specialises in restoring WW2 aircraft to flying condition. Guided tours are available of the work shops and hangers which are crammed with wrecks and bits and pieces of rare aircraft, as well as planes which are flyable or are being restored.

A flying example of B25 Mitchell at the Warbird Air Museum

• Also seen at Warbirds Museum was a gathering of P51 Mustang fighters.

Gathering of P51 Mustangs

NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral

• There are excellent facillities for touring the Kennedy Space Center to view both the early space programme sites and the current launch pad facilities for the space shuttle. If you are lucky you may see a shuttle launch.

A full scale mock up of the Space Shuttle can be inspected

• There is an excellent collection of historic rocket hardware to view, as well as other exhibits and a IMAX wide screen film theatre.

Saturn V rocket used for the Apollo missions including landing a man on the moon

• The Kennedy Space Center is easily reached from the Orlando tourist area of central Florida.

USS Intrepid, New York

• If you are in New York .... don't forget to viist the excellent collection of aircraft on the flight deck and below decks of the WW2 aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, permanently docked on the Hudson River. The aircraft include an example of the Lockeed Blackbird (difficult to image such an advanced plane is now a museum piece)

Smithsonian Aerospace Museum, Washington DC

The original Wright Flyer which made the first recognised heavier than air powered control flight in 1903 now hangs from the roof of the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum, Washington DC

• The Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC are a unique series of museums housed in purpose built buildings along The Mall leading to Capitol Hill.

The Ryan Spirit of St Louis which Charles Lindberg made the first trans Atlantic solo flight landing at Paris

• The most visited museum is the Aerospace Museum which contains a uniquly important collection of aircraft - from the Wright Flyer to missiles and the space programme.

Chuck Yeager achieved the first supersonic flight in 1947 in the rocket powered Bell X1

A vast mural is painted on the wall of the museum showing Boeing Flying Fortresses of the USAAF 8th Air Force flying over Europe in WW2

• This is a place where you can spend hours (if not days), if you have any interest in aviation and aircraft.

• An extension to the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum is being built at Dulles Airport, Washington to house some of the larger exhibits such as Boeing B29 Enola Gay which dropped the first atom bomb.

Planes of Fame, Chino Airfield, California

A flying example of the North American P51 Mustang based at Chino

• If you are in the Los Angeles area, the aircraft collection at Chino (to the east of Los Angeles, take the Riverside Freeway from Los Angeles to 71 Corona Freeway, then 83 Euclid Avenue) contains many static and flying examples of WW2 and post war aircraft.
  

Boeing P26 'Pea Shooter' on display at Chino

San Diego Aerospace Museum, Bilboa Park, San Diego, California

The Lockeed Blackbird welcomes visitors to the San Diego aerospace Museum

• If you are in southern California the purpose built Aerospace museum at Bilboa Park (which includes the world-famous San Diego Zoo and an Automobile Museum as well as the Museum of Mankind) is particularly recommended. The Museum covers the history of flight from the Wright Bros to the Lockeed Blackbird and the space programme.
  

An excellent example of US Navy's F4 Phantom is displayed at the San Diego Aerospace Museum

Seattle Aerospace Museum and Boeing Company

A Douglas DC3 suspended from the ceiling of the Seattle Aerospace Museum along with many other planes

• In the Pacific Northwest of the United States the Aerospace Museum at Seattle can be strongly recommended for a visit.

• Seattle and the Boeing aircraft company are synonomous - Boeing and Microsoft are major employers in the area. The Seattle Aerospace Museum is next to 'Boeing Field' which is an active airfield and where the Boeing short haul commercial aircraft are built. The long haul wide bodied aircraft are manufactured a few miles up the coast at Everett and you can tour the production facilities where the 747, 777 and 767 models are assembled in one of the largest buildings in the world. Follow this link to find out more about Boeing's factory visits

Boeing Model 80 Tri-motor

• The Seattle Aerospace Museum is housed in a purpose built building, with many aircraft, including a DC3 suspended from the ceiling. Viewing gallaries allow you to see the planes from many angles. The aircraft on dispaly range from the US version of the World war 1 DH4 to the Northrop F/A18.

• The museum includes the preserved 'old barn' where Bill Boeing started building aircraft. Out of doors there are various aircrft on display including the Presidential 707 'Air Force One' and Boeing B47 Stratojet.