Aviation Museums

[Darman]

alright. i have some time off at the end of this month and was wondering where the best aviation museum was.

[flyer]

Where abouts? Reynold's, in Wetaskiwin, Nanton, Calgary, Edmonton City Center, are Alberta's only choices, Reynolds being the nicest but all having a few nice machines to see.

[1000 HP]

WCAM in winnipeg has some nice stuff. I haven't been there for awhile, but I will likely stop there in April sometime. Brandon's is interesting. Edmonton has a cool ventura bomber rebuild project, and Calgary's is nice. They have a vampire hanging around somewhere. My brother says the one in London England is a blast. Hamilton Ontario has a really awesome bunch of warbirds. Enjoy...

P.S. Visit any bush service. The 1949 Beaver I once flew is still active..

[Grey_Wolf]

Out east in Ontario, the ones that come to mind are:

- The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario
https://www.warplane.com/index.html

- The RCAF Museum in Trenton, (near the airforce base)
http://www.cfcommunitygateway.com/en/Tr ... seum_e.asp

- The Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, ON
http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/

[Dash-Ate]

CYZD


http://www.torontoaerospacemuseum.com/indexh.html

[R1830]

Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio has the USAF museum, they pretty much have everything ever flown by the USAF. It is for sure worth seeing.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

If you don't have the money to travel you can walk down the flight line of a lot of flying schools and look at their fleet.

[Stubby]

Paris Le Bourget is AWESOME, and FREE! (only if u want to see inside the Concorde is 5eu).

[Rudder Bug]

Hahaha ., that's almost true!

Darmal, I was at the Edmonton City Center museum 2 days ago, just spent one hour there but you bet I will take a longer tour in a few days when my aviation buff girlfriend arrives.

Your best invested 9 bucks no doubt

[Darman]

im thinking of taking a road trip down to like florida. hit up any plane museums on the way there.i know there is one in florida thats a fair size just wondering if there were any good ones in any of the eastern states.

[cyxe]

Hahaha ., that's almost true!

Darmal, I was at the Edmonton City Center museum 2 days ago, just spent one hour there but you bet I will take a longer tour in a few days when my aviation buff girlfriend arrives.

Your best invested 9 bucks no doubt

I was there in November - they have an awesome display. They really need to advertise more.

[unknowingly upsidedown]

Best one I have been to was in Tucson Arizona, The Pima Air and Space Museums. They had EVERYTHING there http://www.pimaair.org/aircraft.php SR-71, B-52, F-everything, SuperGuppy, B-17, oh man everything. And with the AFB and National Guard bases in Tucson, there were always military jets screaming over the city...so AWESOME!!! Also just out of the city is the Titan Missile Museum, if you care to see what an ICBM looks like.

[AntiNakedMan]

im thinking of taking a road trip down to like florida. hit up any plane museums on the way there.i know there is one in florida thats a fair size just wondering if there were any good ones in any of the eastern states.

Road trip? Fly, it's way better. A buddy and I went down that way this winter in the 172, one of the best trips I've ever had. And gas is so cheap down there! Relatively of course. Mind you, everything is so cheap down there. Same pair of shoes I bought down south for $65 I saw for $135 yesterday...

[Rowdy]

Don't forget the canadian bushplane heritage museum in the Soo!

http://www.bushplane.com/

Norseman, Beaver, Otter, CL-215, a rare fairchild husky to name just a few they have there!

[goates]

im thinking of taking a road trip down to like florida. hit up any plane museums on the way there.i know there is one in florida thats a fair size just wondering if there were any good ones in any of the eastern states.

The USAF museum is very nice and has some aircraft that you won't see elsewhere. There are a few one off prototypes there that no one else has. Definitely leave yourself a lot of time, and take the bus across to the other side where there are more aircraft stored.

Pima also has a very large collection, and much of it is outdoors where you can enjoy the sun and aircraft overhead. Could be a little out of the way if you're going to Florida though...

If you go through Washington D.C. the Smithsonian looks like a very nice one too.

[Highsea]

I agree with the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg. It's got a lot of cool stuff in it.

[niko]

Smithsonian!!

[Red Line]

Don't forget the canadian bushplane heritage museum in the Soo!

Not to mention they've got OBS: the first Beaver off the production line! Still flies every blue moon I think.

[TG]

In Uk, there is the Imperial War Museum of Duxford.

The aviation Mecca!
http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/
They have pretty much everything as well but the space shuttle.
And as a bonus you might get to see some vintage aircrafts flying like Spitfire, Mustang, B-17, etc... Doing some practices or going/coming back from an air show.

[adhc2]

Boeing Museum flite Seattle real cool ,although even better go to everret field north of Seattle just adjacent to the big Boeing factory an obscure hanger with a little sign that says museum of flight restoration centre. I poked my nose in the door, initially the guy tried to give me the bums rush, but i told him i was a canuck bush pilot and flew round engines, all of a sudden I had a new best friend and met some of the old retired dudes from Boeing. No bullshit stanchons totally informal the guy says just have a look at this Boeing 247 we just restored go on sit in it. or have you ever sat in a sr71 go ahead try this one on for size. look at this learfan twin prop we have the only one the prototype look in side this one. Ever sit in a me 108 taifun I did still had the swaztikas on the leather seats. I was there for nearly 5 hours. the place and people were amazing with stories and rare stuff I had ony read about or dreamed of seeing. This was 5 years ago so don,t know whats goin on there now, but worth seeing.

[Changes in Latitudes]

Out Florida way, I'd check out Kermit Weeks' Fantasy of Flight, just a bit west of Orlando on I-4.

[EPR]

As mentioned before...Ottawa has a world class collection.

[jspitfire]

I`ll second the Museum of flight restoration centre in Everett, WA. Great facility and to me so much better than an actual museum setting.

If you`re there you must check out Paul Allen`s fantastic collection of warbirds, the "Flying Heritage Collection." His massive collection was hidden from the public until only a few years ago, so its still not very well known.
They are currently in the process of moving his collection from Arlington, WA to Paine Field. I got a quick tour in Arlington a couple years back, his restorations are probably some of the most authentic in existince. Almost all fly regularly as well, including - bf109, p51, p40, p47, storch, curtiss jenny, grumman hellcat, spitfire, and a Polikarpov I-16. Apparently he's got tons more under restoration too. Certainly a must see! http://www.flyingheritage.com

There is also a small hangar somewhere on the airport where they are building full scale, flyable ME 262s, as well as a couple Bf109s under restoration: http://www.stormbirds.com

[boxcar]

Check out Mike's locator at this site:
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.php
It will list all the options for each location.
If you decide on Ottawa don't overlook Vintage Wings in Gatineau.

[Tom H]

Good afternoon all

Rudder bug and CYXE thanks for the kind words about the Alberta Aviation Museum.

We are now Canada's 3rd largest aviation collection and working very hard to improve and become even better. 38 aircraft on display or in restoration, all viewable as our restoration area is open to visitors.

Our commercial aircraft collection spans from the 1918 Curtis Special (replica of the first aircraft to fly the mail in Western Canada) to our operating 737-275, the last one in PWA colours.

Military aircraft range from the Tiger Moth through the CF-101. We also have wonderful exhibits in addition to the aircraft. 10 mini theatres with specially produced videos and our Simulator centre that should be availabile for public use shortly.

Allow at least 2 hrs to tour, more if you are a true addict.

CYXE...as far as advertising, we do the best we can but as a not for profit there just is not alot there to spend.

That said June 22 is Airfest 2008, fly in and join us for our main event.

Tom Hinderks
Executive Director
Alberta Aviation Museum
http://www.albertaaviationmuseum.com