Established | 2008 |
---|---|
Location | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Coordinates | 38°49′16″N104°43′18″W / 38.8212°N 104.7216°W Coordinates: 38°49′16″N104°43′18″W / 38.8212°N 104.7216°W |
Type | Military aviation museum |
Founder | Jim Fry |
Director |
|
President | Bill Klaers [1] |
Chairperson | James Slattery [1] |
Website | worldwariiaviation |
The National Museum of World War II Aviation is an aviation museum located at Colorado Springs Airport in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The origins of the museum date to the founding of WestPac Restorations at Rialto Municipal Airport in Rialto, California in 1997 by Bill Klaers and Alan Wojciak. Due to the planned closure of the airport in 2014, Jim Fry convinced the owners to move the business to Colorado Springs Airport, where he had built three hangars in 2006. There the National Museum of World War II Aviation was established. It opened to the public six years later in October 2012. [2] [3] [4] [5]
In 2014, the museum received two grants totaling $6 million to build a 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) "Aviation Hall". [6] In 2016, Jim Slattery loaned 15 aircraft to the museum. [7] In early 2018, it received an official "national museum" designation from the United States Congress. [8] [9] The museum began construction on a new 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) hangar in November 2018. [10] [11] The museum received donations of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and Stinson V-77 Reliant in late 2019. [12] [13]
The museum has a series of exhibits that trace the history of the United States' involvement in World War II. [14]
In addition to its aircraft, the museum also maintains a collection of land vehicles:
City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, known as Colorado Springs Airport, is a city-owned public civil-military airport 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of downtown Colorado Springs, in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the second busiest commercial service airport in the state after Denver International Airport. Peterson Space Force Base, which is located on the north side of runway 13/31, is a tenant of the airport.
The Grumman F7F Tigercat is a heavy fighter aircraft that served with the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) from late in World War II until 1954. It was the first twin-engine fighter to be deployed by the USN. While the Tigercat was delivered too late to see combat in World War II, it saw action as a night fighter and attack aircraft during the Korean War.
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Enola Gay, and the Boeing 367-80, the prototype for the popular Boeing 707 airliner.
Planes of Fame Air Museum is an aviation museum in Chino, California, and Valle, Arizona. The museum has many flying and static aircraft, along with several rare examples under restoration.
Fantasy of Flight is an aviation museum in Polk City, Florida.
The MAPS Air Museum is an aviation museum in Green, Ohio, United States. Run by the Military Aviation Preservation Society, it is located off SR241 on the west side of the Akron-Canton Regional Airport.
The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display.
The Palm Springs Air Museum (PSAM), is a non-profit educational institution in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. The Museum's mission is to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of the World War II combat aircraft and the role the pilots and American citizens had in winning the war. In addition to flying aircraft, related artifacts, artwork, and library sources are used to perpetuate American history. It contains one of the world's largest collections of flying World War II warplanes, many of which were built in Southern California. Many of these aircraft have been used by motion picture companies in movies set during the second world war.
The Mid-America Air Museum is an aerospace and aircraft museum located in Liberal, Kansas, United States.
The Yanks Air Museum is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization and museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California.
The Air Zoo, founded as the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, is an aviation museum and indoor amusement park next to the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport in Portage, Michigan. The Air Zoo holds many historical and rare aircraft, including the world's fastest air-breathing aircraft, the SR-71B Blackbird. Many of its antique planes are airworthy. Among its other attractions are a 180-degree theater that projects a 2-D film simulation of a B-17 bombing mission during World War II; and various amusement rides, including flight simulators of a rocket trip to Mars, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet, a stunt biplane, a hot air balloon, a veteran U.S. Navy F-14A Tomcat that served aboard USS America, and more. Air Zoo is a Smithsonian Affiliate.
The Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum is a non-profit aviation museum located in Southern Colorado. It was founded in the mid-1970s by former Pueblo City Manager Fred Weisbrod. The museum is made up of two hangars that were built in 2005 and 2011. The hangars house several of the museum's aircraft along with thousands of artifacts dating from World War I to modern day. PWAM is home to the International B-24 Memorial Museum and the Southern Colorado Space Museum and Learning Center. There are several historic military vehicles in the museum's collection, many of which are still in operational condition. The museum is located six miles east of Pueblo, Colorado on US Highway 50 at the Pueblo Memorial Airport, occupying space on what was the Pueblo Army Air Base during World War II. It is managed and maintained by the Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society.
The Valiant Air Command, Inc. Warbird Museum (VAC) is located at the Space Coast Regional Airport in Brevard County, just south of Titusville, Florida. The VAC contains vintage aircraft and a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) hangar with a restoration area. The VAC also has a Memorabilia Hall with flight gear, dress uniforms, weapons and artifacts. The collection includes fixed and rotary wing aircraft from World War I to the present. The flagship aircraft of the museum is a Douglas C-47 Skytrain called "TICO Belle" which returned to flying status in July 2009 after the aircraft was involved in an accident.
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is a United States Marine Corps aviation museum currently located at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California. The museum contains exhibits and artifacts relating to the history and legacy of United States Marine Corps Aviation. The outdoor exhibits include 31 historical aircraft, multiple military vehicles and equipment. Indoor exhibits feature photographs, artifacts and artwork from the early days of aviation to the present.
Hickory Aviation Museum is an aviation museum at the Hickory Regional Airport in Hickory, North Carolina. It features a museum located in the former airport terminal with artifacts, a hangar with aircraft and outdoor exhibits of aircraft on the former airport ramp.
The Fagen Fighters WWII Museum is an aviation museum located in Granite Falls, Minnesota. The museum is made up of three display hangars, a restoration hangar, a reproduction Quonset hut, and a reproduction control tower.
The Wings of the North Air Museum is an aviation museum formerly located at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.