Museum of Aviation

2006 aerial photo of museum buildings and aircraft
Location within Georgia
Former name	Southeastern Museum of Aviation
Established	1981
Location	Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
Type	Military aviation museum
Director	Ken Emery
Owner	United States Air Force
Website	http://www.museumofaviation.org/

The Museum of Aviation is the second-largest aerospace museum of the United States Air Force. The museum is located just outside Warner Robins, Georgia (near Robins Air Force Base). As of July 2019, the museum included four exhibit buildings and more than 85 historic aircraft, among other exhibits, on its 51 acres (21 ha).^[1] The museum is also the home of Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.^[2] Admission is free to nearly half-million visitors each year, which makes it the fourth-most-visited museum of the United States Department of Defense.^[3]

History

The Museum of Aviation, originally the Southeastern Museum of Aviation, was founded in 1980, after World War I aviator Guy Orlando Stone offered his collection of aviation memorabilia to Robins Air Force Base if the base could build a museum to house it.^[2] The Air Force approved the museum in late 1980, and the Southeastern Museum of Aviation Foundation, a non-profit Organization, was incorporated in 1981 with the support of local civilians and base officials.^[2] Also in 1981, the Air Force Logistics Command, under General James P. Mullins, created its Heritage Program to preserve the history of Air Force logistics. The museum became a part of the base's contribution to the program.^[2]

The museum opened its first office in 1982 after the acquisition of another private collection.^[2] That same year, the Air Force approved the museum's ten-year plan, and fundraising efforts began to collect the $9.5 million in projected construction costs for a permanent museum facility.^[2] The museum's first airplane arrived in 1983; a total of twenty-seven airplanes were acquired over the course of the year. The museum officially opened to the public in November 1984 with twenty planes on display and twenty more being restored.^[4]

By 1988, the museum's name had changed to the Museum of Aviation at Robins.^[5]

In 1989, Georgia governor Joe Frank Harris signed legislation to create the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, to be housed at the museum.^[6] Among the original inductees included Stone, whose collections had helped launch the museum.^[2][7]

In the 1990's, museum facilities expanded with addition of the "Hangar One" exhibit space in a former aircraft hangar.^[5] In 1992, the museum dedicated its 60,000-square-foot "Phase II" facility, later named the Eagle Building, which housed a theater, a diorama, and more aircraft, among other exhibits.^[5] In 1996, the "Century of Flight Hangar" added an additional 60,000 square feet.^[5]

In 2013, the museum announced that thirty-two aircraft were to be removed from display.^[8] Some of these were relocated to other museums, while others were scrapped on-site.

In 2019, the museum unveiled a statue of Eugene Bullard, the first African-American pilot to fly in combat. Bullard, a native of Columbus, Georgia, served in the "Aéronautique Militaire", or French Air Force during World War I. He was posthumously commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in 1994.^[9]

Aircraft on display

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk

North American P-51D Mustang

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle

Rockwell B-1B Lancer

B-52D

Education Center

ACE Field Trip

The museum hosts a non-profit education center called the National STEM Academy. The academy offers field trip and independent programs that integrate programs and hands-on STEM disciplines with the humanities such as history and literature through the Heritage program and others. The programs highlight career opportunities and workforce development strategies. Field trips, workshops, and special events are conducted both at the Museum of Aviation, through outreach at school sites, and via live virtual field trips.

See also

• List of aerospace museums

References

External links

• Museum of Aviation

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museum of Aviation (Warner Robins).

32°35′24″N 83°35′16″W / 32.59000°N 83.58778°W / 32.59000; -83.58778