let me start by saying this is not a big air museum, but what do you expect ? for such a place they are doing a good job. i enjoyed walking around the museum. we were greeted by a very nice lady at the front desk. the museum contains some cool aircrafts, helicopters, vehicles, some weapons, uniforms etc... it's a nice place to see but don't expect a lot. i just wish some of these aircrafts has been taken care of, many are tore down, birds living inside etc..
I was surprised at how many exhibits this lovingly run and maintained museum had. I was expecting a bit of a hole-in-the-wall small scale museum, but instead was greeted by a healthy number of aircraft and an excellent selection of military support vehicles spanning several wars and generations. There were quite a few air force uniforms and assorted memorabilia including letters from the War Department back to loved ones at home informing them of a relative's MIA status, medals, accoutrements, tools, weapons, etc. Lots of "etcetera"! ;-)My 21-year-old son and I spent about 1.5 hours there and could easily have stayed longer were we not pressed for time.
We visited during the Bikes, Blues & BBQ Rally and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. After paying a $15 per person entry fee, we were allowed to tour the museum hangars (where, amongst many things, you can see Sam Walton's first airplane) and proceed to the tarmac to inspect about a dozen WWII commemorative air force airplanes that you could pay to ride in. The crown jewel was the last flying B-29 bomber in the U.S. You could purchase a ride starting around $400 ending at the ultimate seat of $1600 to be in the clear nose cone as the bombardier. Flights look to have lasted about 20 minutes. It was quite an experience to stand there as one by one each of the four props spun up and the black smoke billowed out. When the B-29 started towards the taxiway, we were advised to remove all caps because the blast of air as they pivoted the plane was significant! We loved every minute watching all the planes take off and land and hope they have this event during the rally again next year.
Definitely not the same level as the National Military Museums (Naval in Pensacola or the USMC museum in Quantico), but it is good for a local endeavor. A very good collection of uniforms & weapons...
Wasn't sure what to expect from this museum, but it had more than the name implies... we walked past the old militia jeeps and my 3 year old asked what kind of plane it is! ha A great learning experience for the middle-aged and young alike!
The displays and aircraft are very good. Need more people to donate their personal air items for others to enjoy.
Every other review on the air museum had great things to say. It makes me that much more disappointed in my experience. My daughter and I visited the museum with a homeschool field trip. We got a student discount. I would have regretted going if I paid full price. The woman at the front desk wasn't rude or mean, but she certainly wasn't friendly. We walked around the main hanger for about 45 minutes. That was way too much time to be stuck in that hanger and boredom set in for a lot of people. There were two tour guides there, but neither were giving actual tours. They were just sort of babysitting the displays in case the children crossed a rope and got too close. As a group we went to the displays outdoors and it was the same thing. No guidance. This time though there weren't any informational signs to explain what we were looking at. So, we just walked around aimlessly looking and waiting for some direction. After about 20 minutes of that our guide rounded everyone up and we continued to the next indoor portion of the museum. Our guide did tell us little tidbits and facts about specific planes and vehicles, but not without correcting himself several times. On part of the tour there was a demonstration that involved a blower that was used to hover a couple of beach balls above it. Pretty cool to look at but there was absolutely no explanation given as to what exactly was being demonstrated. There were a couple of other demonstrations too that did not have explanation. On one or two airplanes the guide gave us more information about how the display was cobbled together with painted Easter eggs and wood in place of real ammo/guns/rockets. (a good amount of displays looked like they were cobbled together or salvaged, in fact). We continued on to another room crammed packed with display cases and stayed there for less than 10 minutes. No information was given about anything, just a reminder to keep fingers off the glass. One mother became obviously uncomfortable when our guide pressured her son in to viewing the gun display. It was awkward. In one little corner they had a Challenger memorial display. The pictures on it looked like they were printed on regular white copy paper with an old junk printer that was low on ink. Names of the crew members were listed, but there was no information about the actual explosion or why the mission was important even before the shuttle took off. There weren't even any dates listed! I explained the significance and details to my kid and the small group surrounding me. There were all sorts of interesting looking patches and WWII displays too, but the only information given was by whom the display was donated by. TACKY: right in the middle of at least one of the glass case was a big white stark sign saying that donations are tax deductible and nearly everything had the museum name prominently stenciled on it. After the tour ended we broke away from the main group to look for more information on female pilots. Our guide came over to us to be helpful and elaborate on the displays, but he was blatantly contradicting names and dates that were listed right on the displays and I'm sure he guessed at some of the information too. We like to send postcards to the grandmas, but the gift shop did not have any with pictures of actual displays or even with the museum name on them. Anyway, I hope your trip is better than ours. I thought it was a rip-off and a waste of time. My daughter said she didn't learn anything new.
If you are looking for a wonderful place to have homeschooled children see history hands on this is your place!
My friends had there wedding reception here and it was amazing! The had tables set up around the planes and we had free run of the facility. There was no rush to see everything. I'm it crazy about this type of attraction, but for a wedding reception it was great.
This is THE PLACE TO GO FOR MILITARY MEMORABILIA. Wonderful old hanger built of wood foot WW2 pilot training. The gift shop has lots of goodies for kids and military buffs. The hanger itself has lots of old one of a kind planes including Sam Walton's first plane. The adjacent military museum has all Sorts of old vehicles and lots of war memorial flags, patches, weapons etc. Admission price is reasonable and worth the experience. The hangar is also great for special events.