 The former operations building | |
  Location within Utah | |
| Established | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Location | Wendover, Utah |
| Coordinates | 40°43′41″N114°02′16″W / 40.7280°N 114.0377°W |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Founder | Jim Petersen |
| Curator | Landon Wilkey [1] |
| Website | www |
The Historic Wendover Airfield is an aviation museum located at Wendover Airport in Wendover, Utah focused on the history of Wendover Air Force Base.
Due to the remote location and favorable climate, many of the buildings at the base remained in unaltered, although somewhat deteriorated, condition.[ citation needed ] For this reason, the base was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. [2]
The Historic Wendover Airfield Foundation was established in 2001 after Jim Petersen visited the airport as part of a tour group. The following year he became airport manager. [3] The project began with the renovation of, and opening a museum in, the former operations building in March of that year. [4] [5]
The Enola Gay Hangar was placed on the 2009 list of America's Most Endangered Places and as a result the foundation received a number of grants, including one from the Save America's Treasures program, that allowed the structure to be restored. [6] [3] This was followed by the rededication of the control tower in 2012 and the completion of work on the service club in 2015. [7] [8]
The museum encountered some controversy when, in 2017, it agreed to display one of the one thousand origami cranes folded by atomic bomb victim Sadako Sasaki. [9]
The museum acquired a Douglas C-54 Skymaster in September 2020. [10] [ better source needed ] Two months later, one of the barracks was destroyed by fire after a stove was left unattended. [11] [12] Then, in 2021, the museum unveiled a four phased plan, called "Save Where They Walked", for the restoration of many of the remaining buildings on the airport. [13] [ better source needed ] [14]
The museum placed a replica of the Fat Man atomic bomb on display in June 2023. [15]
Exhibits at the museum include a replica of the Little Boy atomic bomb, an origami crane made by Sadako Sasaki, World War II homefront materials, World War II uniforms and prototype atomic bomb components. [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, six miles (9.7 km) northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio.
Imperial War Museum Duxford is a branch of the Imperial War Museum near Duxford in Cambridgeshire, England. Britain's largest aviation museum, Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 aircraft, military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibition buildings. The site also provides storage space for the museum's other collections of material such as film, photographs, documents, books and artefacts. The site accommodates several British Army regimental museums, including those of the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Anglian Regiment.
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a United States National Historic Site located in the states of Washington and Oregon. The National Historic Site consists of two units, one located on the site of Fort Vancouver in modern-day Vancouver, Washington; the other being the former residence of John McLoughlin in Oregon City, Oregon. The two sites were separately given national historic designation in the 1940s. The Fort Vancouver unit was designated a National Historic Site in 1961, and was combined with the McLoughlin House into a unit in 2003.
The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.
The March Field Air Museum is an aviation museum near Moreno Valley and Riverside, California, located in March Air Reserve Base.
Wendover Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base in Utah now known as Wendover Airport. During World War II, it was a training base for B-17 and B-24 bomber crews. It was the training site of the 509th Composite Group, the B-29 unit that carried out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Royal Air Force Rackheath, more commonly known as RAF Rackheath, is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Rackheath, approximately 6 miles north-east of Norwich, in the county of Norfolk in England.
Hill Aerospace Museum is a military aviation museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Roy, Utah. It is dedicated to the history of the base and aviation in Utah.
Wendover Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) southeast of the central business district of Wendover, a city on the western edge of Tooele County, Utah, United States, near the border with Nevada.
Peterson Air and Space Museum is an aviation museum located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado focused on the history of the Air Defense Command, Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command.
Grider Field, also known as Pine Bluff Regional Airport, is a municipal airport at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. It was established in 1941 as a U.S. Army Flight Training School operated by the Pine Bluff School of Aviation. After World War II, the city turned it into a commercial airport facility. It is a 850 acre facility consisting of a large terminal and restaurant, FAA weather monitoring equipment, private corporate hangars, fixed-base operators offering fuel and avionics services, a fire station, and aviation museum. It serves as the only ILS-equipped, jet capable airport in southeast Arkansas.
North Field was a World War II airfield on Tinian in the Mariana Islands. Abandoned after the war, today North Field is a tourist attraction. Along with several adjacent beaches on which U.S. Marines landed during the Battle of Tinian, the airfield is the major component of the National Historic Landmark District Tinian Landing Beaches, Ushi Point Field, Tinian Island.
San Angelo Army Airfield is an inactive United States Air Force base, about 8 miles south-southwest of San Angelo, Texas. It was active during World War II as a training airfield. It was closed on 30 November 1945.
The Connecticut Air & Space Center is an aviation museum located near Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, Connecticut, that is focused on the history of aviation in Connecticut. Founded by George Gunther in 1998 after the closing of the Stratford Army Engine Plant, it occupied buildings 6 and 53 of the complex from 2001 until 2022. It now currently occupies a portion of the Curtiss Hangar and is open to the public.
The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to one of the world's largest collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, from both World War I and World War II, and its complete collection ranges from the 1910s to the early 1950s.
Aerospace Bristol is an aerospace museum at Filton, to the north of Bristol, England. The project is run by the Bristol Aero Collection Trust and houses a varied collection of exhibits, including Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the final Concorde to be built and the last to fly.
The Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre is located to the north of Montrose, Angus, Scotland. Montrose has the distinction of having the first operational military airfield in Great Britain and the Heritage Centre is located on the former airfield.
The 216th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Special) provided base services at Wendover Army Airfield, where the 509th Composite Group was stationed during World War II. As such, it became involved in the Manhattan Project's program of testing bombs and aircraft under the codename Project W-47.
Webb Air Force Base, previously named Big Spring Air Force Base, was a United States Air Force facility of the Air Training Command that operated from 1951 to 1977 in West Texas within the current city limits of Big Spring. Webb AFB was a major undergraduate pilot training (UPT) facility for the Air Force, and by 1969, almost 9,000 pilots had been trained at Webb. The last operational wing at Webb AFB was the 78th Flying Training Wing.
The Bellanca Airfield Museum is an aviation museum located in New Castle, Delaware focused on the history of Bellanca Airfield.