homepage Forums SimHQ Community Community Hall Best aviation museums in California?

That's true. An alternative would be the San Bernardino Line, which does run on weekends. Here's the link to their timetables:

http://www.metrolinktrains.com/schedules/

I am now at Diamond Bar, on my way to Hermosillo, Mexico; this afternoon I went to the Planes of Fame museum, and met two gunner veterans from B-17G squadrons.

Tomorrow morning I intend to visit the Yanks museum.

Thank you all for your tips and advice!

You are here early. From your first post I wasn't expecting this trip to be before May. I hope you enjoyed Planes of Fame.


Wheels

Yes, I'll come back to CA in May, to San Francisco and San Diego. My transit through LA this time just "popped in"...

vtrelut,

Hope you will be in Southern California the weekend of May 14-15. Those are the days of the Airshow at the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino. I am looking forward to bringing my kids to see the FW-190, the Spitfire and the F-15.

Have a wonderful trip!

Pretty cool how things worked out then. Hope you enjoy Yanks. Yanks is one of those places I keep saying I am going to visit but then don't.


Wheels

Have you ever been to Hiller Aviation museum? I'm going to be in that area next month (around Stanford) and saw it was on the way from San Francisco. The virtual tour wasn't a must see though.

Just wondering, thanks.

Finally I visited Yanks and the Planes of Fame museums: both are great! Unfortunately I won't be there for the airshow on May 14/15th.

Both collections are huge, Yanks is dedicated to US planes. Among many interesting aircraft, there is a FJ-1 Fury and a F-106B in excellent condition, many of the warbirds there are airworthy and they are well presented; I also liked the YP-47M and the reco F-5 Lighning.

At Planes of Fame I liked the D-558-II, J2M3 Raiden, P-47 Razorback and so many others.

Happy to hear that you had a good time at the museums.
Was the flying wing back from Palm Springs when you went to Planes of Fame?




Wheels

Yes, she was there, apparently in excellent condition, in front of the Avenger and the Mitchell, not far from the P-59 Airacomet. The P-40 and the Bearcat were not there though. But there is a nice P-40 at Yanks. BTW the FM-2 and Hellcat at Yanks are gorgeous.

There is also a Horten glider at Planes of Fame.

All in all these two neighbouring collections are worth a pilgrimage IMHO, like the NASM at the Mall and Dulles.

My next targets in California are San Francisco (Alameda), San Diego (with their carriers), and if possible Palm Springs.

Future targets would be Western Museum of Flight at Torrance, March AFR, USAF museum at Dayton, Monino in Russia, Santiago in Chile, etc...

For $11 admission I think its worth the money. Some cool interactive exhibits like the Flying Tigers 747 nose section. You can climb in the cockpit and flip switches, they also have a blue angels nose section that you can climb in. If you have time to kill its worth the visit.

Glad to hear that the flying wing was there because it is one of their most unique aircraft.

I knew about the Horten glider and from what I was told it's the real thing and not a replica.

The P-59 is in the process of being restored to flight. They hope to have it ready for the May 2012 airshow.


Wheels

Finally I am back from California. In 4 days I've been able to visit USS Hornet at Alameda, Palm Springs Air Museum, USS Midway at San Diego, San Diego Aerospace Museum... and I even drove by March Field Air Museum near Riverside, on my way to San Diego (no time to visit, but I spotted the B-52D, B-17G, etc.). Man, California is a paradise for aviation history enthusiasts! I've never seen so many historical aircraft from WWII and Vietnam eras in such a short time. In fact it seems that wherever I go in California, there is an aviation museum to visit in the vicinity... I still have to go to a lot of them, in the North, South, East, West...

I want to point out that all museums I visited are well maintained and staffed with very friendly volunteer staff, who guide visitors and explain everything with competence and care: they are wonderful. The main highlight for me was the flight deck of USS Midway, a carrier launched in 1945 who served through operation Desert Storm and retired in 1992: 47 years of active service! I was standing between a F-14 Tomcat, a RA-5C Vigilante, a A-3 Skywarrior and could see the supercarrier USS John Stennis CVN-74 passing by anchored at North Island in San Diego bay, I was so overwhelmed... Other highlights included the Grimreapers' Tomcat, quarantine facility for Apollo astronauts onboard USS Hornet, who recovered Apollo 11 and 12 missions, the Spitfire Mk XVIe with a bulb canopy (the most beautiful Spitfire I ever saw), the Horten IX V3 replica built by Northrop Grumman to test its stealth capability, the Convair Sea Dart at San Diego Aerospace Museum, and the amazing collection of Grumman aircraft at Palm Springs, probably unmatched anywhere else: Wildcat, Hellcat, Tigercat, Bearcat, Avenger, Trader, Goose, Intruder, Tomcat... Incredible: most of the WWII ones in flying condition (at Palm Springs).

Lol, I live in California and I haven't been to half the places you mentioned. Sounds like you had a great time.

Since you didn't get to stop, here are some pictures that Arthonon took at the March museum in 2009.
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2717327/Re_Regional_SimHQ_BBQs.html#Post2717327


Wheels

Actually I finally visited March field, as you know M8!

Last June I went to Southern California again. I drove from LAX airport to Indian Wells, near Palm Springs. And what did I do on the way? First a stop at Proud Bird, a restaurant very close to LAX, with undoubtedly some taste:





Fiber glass replicas...







Then I went to Torrance, Zamperini airfield, the home of Northrop aircraft. There I could visit the Western Museum of Flight, which displays unique prototypes, such as the YF-17 and YF-23:























After that the highlight was the visit of the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, where Wheelsup_cavu kindly met me. What a nice museum!

Great aircraft, some unique, an incredible collection right from the Cold War and also WWII & other eras:

First another Northrop prototype, the A-9:



A rare P-59:

Near the P-59 Airacomet shown above, one can also see a Blackbird. There is also the P-38 museum, with another fiber glass replica, and plenty of P-38 related memorabilia:








But for us the best was the tour outside, with for instance the Century Fighters:

The MiG alley:













The Antonov-2 attached to concrete poles, otherwise it could fly by itself in case of strong wind:



And of course, so many classics:

















A nice F-89 Scorpion:





































A pre-production Tomcat:









More here:
http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee281/vtrelut/March%20Field%20Air%20Museum%20-%20P-38%20Museum/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ36

Again thanks a lot to Wheelsup_cavu!

Nice man! I drive by March every day on my commute to and from work.

USS Hornet is worth going to, and there is a place by the Oakland Airport which is not too far from it. Small museum, but they had an F-105, A-4, A-6 and more.