The museum is immaculate with all airplanes well displayed. Their youth program is truly impressive.
Ok, so they're small. A single hanger for the museum. But really, how much do you expect to be in such an out of the way place as Port Townsend? However, their collection is pretty impressive for such a small spot. They have some quite rare planes, and they actually fly them! How many air museums have nothing but display aircraft? Pretty much every one I've been to before. This place actually takes a large portion of their aircraft up into the air where they belong. And to do so, they have a volunteer program where they teach youth to restore and fly aircraft. So it's not just a collection of retirees enjoying the aircraft of their youth. They are teaching the youth of today a useful trade and an appreciation for classic aircraft.
This is a small local museum but don't let that fool you. The aircraft are lovingly restored and look new. Surprisingly, most have been brought back to flyable condition. (Some aviation museums just do much of their collections cosmetically). I was impressed with the diversity of the collection. Most of the planes are from the 1920s-1940s and they are mostly civilian. That's also unusual. It was a window into a side of aviation that I have not seen very much of and I really enjoyed it. They also have a lot of models and some paintings.I met the older man that runs the place and can't see what some people are complaining about. He answered my questions politely and when one of my friends asked about something inside one of the planes he took the rope down and let us close enough to stick our heads in the door and look.Length of visit is a hard question, If you are not an aviation enthusiast you can get in and around in an hour or less. If you love small, historic aircraft you need to allow a couple of hours. Admission as of June 2014 was $10 for adults, $6 for kids and under 6 years old free. There is no food available but the airport cafe is two buildings over and is good.
The planes are regularly flown and are in remarkable shape! The Beech Staggerwing is a thing of beauty as is the Ryan PT22! Give them a visit, My wife even enjoyed the visit!
Nice collection of vintage airplanes and equipment. Well worth the visit. Museum also has a program training youth in aircraft rebuilding skills. Their academic skills are emphasize also.
We saw history of aerograft, and Boeing real flight .This Museum is very informative and useful to the students and research .
This little museum is a nice addition to our airport. It supports a youth involvement program and you may see teenagers working on the planes - for w which they can get flying lessons. It's a very interesting way to spend and hour or two.
Stopped in on a whim, didn't expect such a beautiful collection of gorgeous and meticulously restored vintage aircraft. Admission of $10 per adult was well worth it, especially knowing that it goes towards the collection and towards the youth program they run - teaching kids about aircraft maintenance and restoration.....Spent time chatting with the owner, an older man with a wealth of aviation experience and quite a character ! Great stories ( he has probably forgotten more stories than I'll ever have !). The collection, while relatively small compared to a larger museum, is beautiful, historically interesting, and most of it is quite flyable ! Plenty of artwork to peruse, some interesting old artifacts (like an MD-80 simulator) all in a spotless environment. There's a cafe next door (The Spruce Goose) unrelated to the museum, great pie and coffee, you can watch airplanes take off and land, with an interesting collection of their own - dozens of airplane models hanging from the ceiling.....All said, well worth an hour or two as you travel near Pt Townsend, especially for the aviation enthusiast.....
We stopped at this museum on the spur of the moment. Beautiful restorations of historic aircraft of all kinds.
I had a tour of a lifetime, looking at planes my dad flew and talked about as I was growing up. What a treat. They were in great shape. I was welcomed and warmed by the nostalgic history of aviation. Thanks.