  Location within Mississippi | |
| Established | 2002 |
|---|---|
| Location | Gulfport, Mississippi |
| Coordinates | 30°23′23″N89°03′30″W / 30.3897°N 89.0582°W |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Website | www |
The Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum is an aviation museum in Gulfport, Mississippi.
In 1973, Thomas E. Simmons, a businessman and pilot, read a newspaper article about Gulfport native and early African-American aviator John C. Robinson. After years of research that led to creation of a book about Robinson, the John C. Robinson Brown Condor Association was established in 2001. The following year, it received $250,000 from the state legislature to create a museum and began collaborating with the University of Southern Mississippi to conduct oral history interviews with individuals who knew Robinson or the environment he grew up in. [1] [2] The association commissioned a bust of Robinson, which went on display at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in 2010. The dedication also served as the beginning of efforts to build the museum. [3] Plans originally called for the construction of a two-floor 52,000 sq ft (4,800 m2) building near the airport. [4] Focus eventually shifted to a World War II-era hangar at the airport, but this also did not come to fruition. [5]
The museum leased a vacant 33,000 sq ft (3,100 m2) furniture store from the city in September 2016 and began renovating it. [6] [7] After four years of work, the museum opened on 3 October 2020. [8] [9]
Exhibits at the museum include the Mississippi Aviation Hall of Fame, as well as galleries about the Tuskegee Airmen, Hurricane Hunters, crop dusting and military bases in Mississippi. [7]
A scale replica of a C-130 that was used in parades was donated in 2021. [10]
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record earned while protecting American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a branch of the Los Angeles city government, which also operates Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Van Nuys is one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world, with the airport's two parallel runways averaging over 230,000 takeoffs and landings annually. However, as of 2022, no commercial air service operates to or from Van Nuys.
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi thirteen miles east of Gulfport along US-90. The adjacent cities are both designated as seats of Harrison County. The population of Biloxi was 49,449 at the 2020 census, making it the state's 4th most populous city. It is a principal city of the Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area, home to 416,259 residents in 2020. The area's first European settlers were French colonists.
D'Iberville is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, immediately north of Biloxi, across the Back Bay. The population was 12,721 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Gulfport—Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Gulfport is the 2nd most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport–Biloxi metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city of Gulfport had a total population of 72,926, with 416,259 residents in its metro area. The city lies along the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, taking its name from its port on the Mississippi Sound. It is also home to the U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet Seabees.
Ocean Springs is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Biloxi and west of Gautier. It is part of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 17,225 at the 2000 U.S. Census. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city of Ocean Springs had a population of 17,442.
Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport is a joint civil–military public-use airport three nautical miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Gulfport, a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is owned by the Gulfport–Biloxi Regional Airport Authority and serves the Gulf Coast area.
WLOX is a television station licensed to Biloxi, Mississippi, United States, serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast as an affiliate of ABC and CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power MeTV station WTBL-LD. WLOX's studios are located on DeBuys Road in Biloxi, and its transmitter is located in unincorporated southern Stone County near McHenry.
WXXV-TV is a television station licensed to Gulfport, Mississippi, United States, serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast as an affiliate of Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Morris Multimedia, and maintains studios on US 49 in Lyman ; its transmitter is located on Wire Road East, in unincorporated Stone County, northeast of McHenry.
Gulfport station is a closed Amtrak intercity train station in Gulfport, Mississippi, United States. Gulfport is a former union station that served the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and Gulf and Ship Island Railroad.
The Red Tail Squadron, part of the non-profit Commemorative Air Force (CAF), known as the Red Tail Project until June 2011, maintains and flies a World War II era North American P-51C Mustang. The twice-restored aircraft flies to create interest in the history and accomplishments of the members of the World War II-era 332nd Fighter Group, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, whose distinctive red markings on the tails of the P-51s they flew during that war, gave the organization its name.
Lawrence Edward Roberts Sr. was a pilot with the Tuskegee Airmen and a colonel in the United States Air Force, with 32 years of total military service. He is the father of newscaster Robin René Roberts and Sally-Ann Roberts.
Brigadier General Charles Edward McGee was an American fighter pilot who was one of the first African American aviators in the United States military and one of the last living members of the Tuskegee Airmen. McGee first began his career in World War II flying with the Tuskegee Airmen, an all African American military pilot group at a time of segregation in the armed forces. His military aviation career lasted 30 years in which McGee flew 409 combat missions in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Alabama's first aeronautical event was on 10 March 1910 with the flight of a Wright biplane flown by Orville Wright in Montgomery, Alabama.
Naval Construction Battalion Center is a 1,100-acre (450 ha) U.S. Navy industrial complex located in Gulfport, Mississippi. It serves as home base for the Atlantic Fleet Seabees, which are the Navy's construction battalions.
Grass Lawn, also known as the Milner House, was a two-story Antebellum home located in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi. In 1972, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2005, the home was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. A replica of Grass Lawn, Grasslawn II, was built and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2010. The new structure was dedicated in 2012 for use in city events, weddings, receptions, and parties.
John Charles Robinson was an American aviator and activist who was hailed as the "Brown Condor" for his service in the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force against Fascist Italy. Robinson pushed for equal opportunities for African-Americans during his early career, and was able to open his own eponymous aviation school in addition to initiating a program for black pilots at his college, the Tuskegee Institute. Robinson's achievements as an aviator were in stark contrast to the limited opportunities for most African-Americans in aviation careers, and were an important factor in reducing racially based prohibitions in the United States. Robinson is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the Tuskegee Airmen" for inspiring this all-black group of pilots who served in the United States Army Air Forces following the United States' entry into World War II.
Cornelius Robinson Coffey was an American aviator. Alongside Willa Brown, he was the first African American to create a non-university-affiliated aeronautical school in the United States.
Carl Croston Johnson was an American U.S. Army Air Force and U.S. Army officer, and former Cleveland, Ohio Airport Commissioner and deputy director of the Pittsburgh International Airport.
The Hoosier Air Museum was an aviation museum located at the DeKalb County Airport in Auburn, Indiana.