National Aviation Education Center

Last updated
National Aviation Education Center
National Aviation Education Center logo.png
USA Texas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Texas
Former name
American Airpower Heritage Museum, CAF Airpower Museum
Established1965 (1965)
Location Dallas, Texas, U.S. (since 2015)
Coordinates 32°40′38″N96°51′39″W / 32.677229°N 96.860801°W / 32.677229; -96.860801
Type Aviation museum
ChairpersonNeils Agather [1]
Website flynaec.org

The Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center (NAEC) is an aviation museum operated by the American Airpower Heritage Museum (AAHM), [lower-alpha 1] an affiliate organization of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), headquartered at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas, United States.

Contents

History

The museum opened in its first building in Mercedes, Texas, in 1965 as a location to house and display World War II artifacts as they began to be donated to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), then known as the Confederate Air Force. [2] In 1968, both the CAF and AAHM moved to Harlingen, Texas. [3]

In 1990, the AAHM became a separate non-profit organization, along with another legal entity, the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum, created to hold title to the organization's aircraft. [4] In 1991, both the AAHM and CAF moved to Midland, Texas, where the museum operated as the CAF Air Power Museum. [5] [6]

A Polikarpov I-16 on display at the museum in 2009 in Midland, Texas Polikarpov I-16, Midland, Texas.jpg
A Polikarpov I-16 on display at the museum in 2009 in Midland, Texas

In 2015, the museum's collection was moved to Dallas in anticipation of the creation of the CAF National Airbase. [7] At that location, the CAF and AAHM now operate the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center (NAEC), a 47,000-square-foot (4,400 m2) facility to provide "hands-on learning opportunities, an immersive history experience and activities for all ages." [8] The facility is named in honor of Henry Tippie, a World War II veteran and longtime CAF member. [9]

Collections

A portion of the museum's collection of authentic World War II nose art. The collection is currently on loan to the EAA Aviation Museum located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Nose-art-730.jpg
A portion of the museum's collection of authentic World War II nose art. The collection is currently on loan to the EAA Aviation Museum located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The museum's collection, which numbers nearly 400,000 artifacts, focuses on the history of World War II military aviation culture and other material culture of this era. It has one of the most complete collections of World War II aviation culture in the United States with items that represent all of the axis and allies that participated in the air wars of World War II. The AAHM collects items, artifacts, and historical information of inherent value to World War II aviation and related culture, focusing on the period of 1939–1945.

Featured collections in the museum include:

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Not to be confused with the similarly-named American Airpower Museum in the state of New York.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley International Airport</span> Airport in Harlingen, Texas

Valley International Airport (VIA) is owned by the City of Harlingen, in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is operated by a nine-member airport board appointed by the mayor. HRL is centrally located in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and is referred to as the "Gateway to South Padre Island" with travel amenities and door to door transportation to South Padre Island. With over 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) HRL is the largest airport in the RGV with room for future expansion. HRL has the longest runways in the area with modern aircraft approach systems that minimize chances of delays during bad weather.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major</span> R-28 piston aircraft engine family

The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at 4,362.5 cu in (71.5 L), it is the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States, and at 4,300 hp (3,200 kW) the most powerful. It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family, and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commemorative Air Force</span> Nonprofit organization for preserving aircraft

The Commemorative Air Force (CAF), formerly known as the Confederate Air Force, is an American non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, that preserves and shows historical aircraft at airshows, primarily in the U.S. and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warbird</span> Vintage military aircraft operated by non military forces

A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAAF Museum Historic Flight, or the South African Air Force Museum Historic Flight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falcon Field (Arizona)</span> Airport in Maricopa County, Arizona

Falcon Field is in an airport located in Maricopa County, Arizona. It was originally built 6 miles northeast of Mesa, which owns it. However, it is now within city limits. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a reliever airport. Scheduled service to Bullhead City on Western Express Air ended in January 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camarillo Airport</span> Public airport in Camarillo, California

Camarillo Airport is a public airport located three miles (5 km) west of the central business district of Camarillo, a city in Ventura County, California, United States. The airport has one runway and serves privately operated general aviation and executive aircraft with no scheduled commercial service. A separate airfield in the southwest quadrant of the airport is for exclusive use of light-sport aircraft and ultralights. The airport is the site for an annual air show "Wings Over Camarillo", organized by the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum was a non-profit aviation museum at Addison Airport in Addison, Texas. It closed indefinitely as of January 1, 2024.

<i>Texas Raiders</i> American WWII aircraft

Texas Raiders was an American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a B-17G-95-DL built by Douglas Long Beach. In 1967, it was purchased by the Commemorative Air Force's Gulf Coast Wing "Texas Raiders" group, which maintained and flew the aircraft out of Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport in Conroe, Texas. The aircraft was destroyed on November 12, 2022, by a mid-air collision with a P-63 Kingcobra at an air show at Dallas Executive Airport, Texas, that killed all five occupants and the P-63 pilot.

<i>FIFI</i> (aircraft) Airworthy Boeing B-29 Superfortress

FIFI is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. It is one of two B-29s in the world flying as of 2023. It is owned by the Commemorative Air Force and is based at the Victor N. Agather Hangar at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CAF Utah Wing Museum</span> Aviation museum in Heber City, Utah

CAF Utah Wing Museum is one of many local detachments of the national Commemorative Air Force (CAF) non-profit aviation association dedicated to Honoring American Military Aviation through Flight, Exhibit and Remembrance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum</span> Aircraft museum in Mesa, Arizona

The Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum, a.k.a. Airbase Arizona Aircraft Museum, was established in 1978, in Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. It is the 10th unit of the Commemorative Air Force and the home of one of the largest Commemorative Air Force units in the world. On exhibit are World War II artifacts, helicopters and classic American and foreign combat planes, many of which are the last remaining warbirds of their kinds.

<i>Thats All, Brother</i> Lead aircraft in paratrooper drops during 1944 Normandy invasion

That's All, Brother is a Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft that led the formation of 800 others from which approximately 13,000 U.S. paratroopers jumped on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the beginning of the liberation of France in the last two years of World War II. After the war it was returned to the United States and sold to civilian owners, eventually falling victim to neglect until it was found in an Oshkosh, Wisconsin, boneyard in 2015, facing imminent modification to be converted into a modern turboprop-powered aircraft. It has since been restored and is part of the Commemorative Air Force.

Airpower Museum may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Tippie</span> American businessman (1927–2022)

Henry Bokholt Tippie was an American businessman. As part of the Rollins Corporation he was a key member of the team that purchased Orkin via one of the first large leveraged buyouts in American corporate history. In 2018, Tippie became the 17th member of the NYSE Wall of Innovators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Dallas air show mid-air collision</span> Fatal accident during an air show in Texas, US

On November 12, 2022, two World War II–era aircraft, a B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, collided mid-air and crashed during the Wings Over Dallas air show at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas, United States. The air show, which coincided with Veterans Day commemorations, was organized by the Commemorative Air Force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Wing</span> United States historical air display organization

Houston Wing was founded in June 1978 as the West Houston Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force It is a United States historical air display organization and public history education focused on vintage aircraft of military aviation mainly of World War II time period. It also has a sizable museum with a broad collection of artifacts and themed displays.

The Midland Army Air Field Museum is an aviation museum located at the Midland International Air and Space Port in Midland, Texas operated by the High Sky Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and focused on the history of Midland Army Airfield.

References

  1. ↑ "Board of Directors". flynaec.org. NAEC. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Ground Breaking For CAF Museum Is Held". Valley Morning Star . Harlingen, Texas. March 23, 1965. p. 5. Retrieved November 13, 2022– via newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "New Museum Directory Includes Four in Valley". Corpus Christi Caller-Times . Corpus Christi, Texas. June 27, 1968. p. 1. Retrieved November 13, 2022– via newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Leatherwood, Art. "Commemorative Air Force". tshaonline.org. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  5. ↑ "About the Air Power Museum". American Airpower Heritage Museum. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  6. ↑ Folsom, Geoff (June 5, 2010). "CAF tries to clear the air". Odessa American . Odessa, Texas. p. 6B. Retrieved November 13, 2022– via newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center (NAEC)". commemorativeairforce.org. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  8. ↑ "National Aviation Education Center". flynaec.org. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Henry B. Tippie". flynaec.org. American Airpower Heritage Museum. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  10. ↑ "[Homepage]". Save the Girls. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.