  Location within Indiana | |
| Established | October 2000 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 3 December 2019 |
| Location | Auburn, Indiana |
| Coordinates | 41°18′15″N85°03′33″W / 41.3041°N 85.0593°W |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Founder | Niles Walton [1] |
| Website | hoosierairmuseum.org (Archived) |
The Hoosier Air Museum was an aviation museum located at the DeKalb County Airport in Auburn, Indiana.
The Hoosier Warbirds were founded by a group of aviation enthusiasts who met in October 1991 following the publication of a classified advertisement in a local newspaper. [2]
The group raised money to build a hangar, which opened in October 2000. [3] It acquired a Cadillac Fleetwood and an AH-1 in 2002. [4]
The museum acquired two airplanes, four engines and an exhibit about the 434th Fighter Squadron from the Wings of Freedom Museum in Huntington, Indiana in 2006. [5] [a]
Due to a lack of volunteers and difficulty accessing the site, the museum closed on 3 December 2019. Most of its exhibits were donated to Kruse Plaza, which opened the Hoosier Air Experience. However, the museum's WR-3 was donated to the National Air and Space Museum in 2020. [1] [6] [7]
The museum was composed of a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) hangar and a 6,375 sq ft (592.3 m2) event hall. [8] The latter included a library. [9]
The museum included exhibits about the Tuskegee Airmen, the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the Flying Tigers the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, memorabilia belonging to Robin Olds and a control tower cab. [8] [10] [11]