Museums - Alphabetical List

American Air Power Museum is located in Farmingdale, Long Island next to the Farmingdale Airport. These pictures were taken on July 4th during the NY Airshow. Most of the aircraft at the airshow takes off and lands from this airport.

http://www.americanairpowermuseum.com

Cavanuagh Flight Museum is located at Addison, Texas - just outside Dallas This museum is unique in that almost all the planes are restored to flying condition. A few planes are in the open and not roped off, allowing you to get a close up view.

https://cavflight.org/

In Long Island, New York. The museum features both space and aircraft exhibits relating to the Long Island air & space industry.

http://www.cradleofaviation.org

Dallas Frontiers of Flight is located in Love Field, Dallas. Its a smaller museum but has some very well kept aircraft on display and often have feature speakers.

http://www.flightmuseum.com/

In Honolulu, right smack the middle of Waikiki - within walking distance of many of the hotels. It's not a big musuem, you can finish it in an hours or so, two if you want to read everything. Don't forget to visit the 2nd floor with the moving stories of Medal honorees who are native to Hawaii. Well worth a quick visit.

http://www.hiarmymuseumsoc.org/

Intrepid Air & Space is located in NY City west side. The Intrepid Aircraft Carrier was  closed for a multi-year renovation in 2006. This set of pictures were taken the weekend of the closing in 2006 and as second set of pictures were taken after the reopening in 2009

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

If you ever are in the Orlando Florida area, this is definitely worth the 1 hr (depending on traffic) drive. Has a large amount of US space material on display - especially nice is the Space Shuttle Atlantis, the presentation here is much better than the one in NYC or Washington DC.  

The MacArthur Memorial is a small museum in Norfolk Virginia dedicated to General Douglas MacArthur.  The larger than life American general is lionized here for his accomplishments, discerning students of history may have wished for a more critical look at the roles he played in the Philipines and in Korea.  However, overall a great museum to see artifacts and documents related to not just his life from Westpoint graduate to retirement, but also the events that he directly help shape.

http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/

Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) routinely gives demonstrations throughout the country. While this is not a museum nor their largest show, these are images of the equipment on display on July 4, 2010 in New York City. You will see the V-22 Osprey, a very impressive machine, the Apache, and the CH-46 transport helicopter.

 The Military Aviation Musuem in Virginia Beach is a surprisingly well stocked museum. The highlight would be the Junkers, taking up a lot of room inside the hanger. There also also large number of Luftwaffe '46 type reproductions, as these planes were never built beyond the planning stage or simple models.

http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/

The Invalides is a museum complex located inside the city of Paris. Housed next to Napolean's tomb, the facility is still a functioning museum for injured soliders. Inside is the a few museum dominated by the Army Museum. The WW1 - WW2 museum is quite good, but the real jewel is for the Napoleanic wars. If  you are into that period, this is a must see, I only took a few pictures of those exhibits as they are all behind glass and diffcult to captures. But there are literally, hundreds of uniforms and arms. A must see - almost all signage is in French.

https://www.musee-armee.fr/

Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie is located in the town of Bayeux, in Normandie, France. One of the many tribute museums related to D-Day in the area. Worth a visit, especially if you are staying in town as the central point of your Normandie visit. The British war cementary is right near by, a easy 5 minute walk. Unforunately, they don't have a website, so here's the contact information:

The Museum of American Armor, located in Old Bethpage, Long Island, New York is a good size armor museum.  Probably the largest collection on the east coast now that the Army's own armor museum has closed. The artifacts range from bicycles, to cars, to artillery, and of course soft-top and armored vehicles.

This museum opened in Philadelphia April 2017 and my visit was a year later in 2018.  If you have an interest in the American revolution - and not just the military aspects - this is a good place to visit.

The National Museum of the Marine Corps is located near Quantico, about 35 minutes south of Washington DC. Opened in 2006, it honors the people how has served and is serving the United States. Besides a history of the service told through artifacts, uniforms, and exhibits, the museum contains a good collection of aircraft and a smaller collection of armored vehicles. The center piece however in my opinion are the life size dioramas with sound effects that you literally walk through. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the Washington DC Area.

http://www.usmcmuseum.org 

The National Museum of the Army, in Virginia, about 30 minutes south of Washington DC was opened in 2021.  There are still construction going outside when I visited in the spring of 2022. The first real military museum that I had a chance to visit since the pandemic hit. Everything is new, it design is fresh, and has great items on display.  The galleries flow from pre-revolutionary war right through the wars in the 21st century in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being the 'official' US Army museum, it of course pays homage to the men and women who served.  At the same time, it was a very balanced view of the role the US Army played, good and bad. There was a great balance of views about segregation, treatment of minorities and females.  Politics are considered but kept at a minimum to understand context.

This museum started intially as the National D-Day Museum, but quickly grew to become the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans.

New England Air Museum is located in Bradley International Airport Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  Has a great collection of military and civilian aircraft, a dedicated section for the Tuskagee Airmen, the 57th bomber group in Asia, and the Flying Tigers. These pictures are from 2009.

 http://www.neam.org/

Interesting museum in Old Rhinebeck, NY. Full of flying WWI era planes and replicas. You can take a ride in one of their biplanes, watch an airshow every weekend in the summer, and browse the museum.

http://www.oldrhinebeck.org

This is one of larger Art museums in the east coast, while not as comprehensive as say the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, still worth a visit if you are in the area.

Located at Chino, California - a 45 minute drive from San Diego.  Planes of Fame contains both static aircraft and ones restored to flying conditions. Every month there's a airshow. There's also a huge model display, unfortunately they are stored in a building that's in a deteriorated state, at least when I visited in 2005. They have finished renovating the museum, perhaps this has changed by now.

http://www.planesoffame.org/

If you are in Singapore, here is a relatively small and off the beaten path museum.  Singapore isn't so big, so taking a cab here from the central area will take about 30 minutes - and Singapore cabs are cheap.  

Teterboro Wings and Wheels Expo is a annual event sponsored by the Teterboro Aviation Hall of Fame Museum. It has both flying aircraft on display and classic cars, 2009 featured an A-10 formation fly-by by the local air national guard. The musuem itself if quite small but worth a visit if you are close by or coming for the expo.

http://www.njahof.org/

Located just outside of Washington DC, It is Smithsonian Institute's Air & Space Museum annex, its a huge place and a must see. There are some very rare aircrafts being displayed here - from the only remaining Horten 229 glider prototype to a Space Shuttle.  It's also free - parking extra though.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy>

Located in the famous town of St. Mere Eglise. You know the one, where the US paratroopers landed during a fire and 2 men hung from the church tower for hours. The town is definitely a bit touristy, but is still a must see.

These photos were taken in 2009 when this museum was located In Maryland inside the Aberdeen Proving Grounds US army base, a great collection of armor.  Since 2010, this museum has been moved to Fort Lee, Virginia

http://www.ordmusfound.org/

A great Aircraft museum that you will pass on the way to the Kennedy Space Center - make sure you budget at least an extra hour if you are visiting the Space Center so you can stop by this museum. It's not large, but the planes are well kept and displayed.

In New York State, near bear mountain, inside the United States Army Academy is a very nice military museum following the history of the US Army and armed conflict through history.

http://www.usma.edu/museum/

Western Museum of Flight is located in Torrance, CA, about 45 minutes away from downtown Los Angeles (the infamous LA traffic permitting of course).  It's a small museum in located at the Zamperini Air Field - named after Louis Zamperini, Olympic track and field athelete, B-24 Bombadier, and eventually Japanese POW. His POW story was told in the movie Unbreakable. Despite the small size, it has some very unique piece not to be missed. Among them, the YF-23 prototype (competitor to F-22) - only 1 of 2 in the world, a British Sea Harrier, and an open cockpit F-5E. Unlike some other open cockipits which are rare in itself now days, this one has everything intact. Not to be missed.

http://www.wmof.com/