Pima Air and Space Museum

I have told you of Steve’s love of airplanes. As soon as we saw a sign for the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, I knew we would be going!

Welcome to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson Arizona

Wright Brothers Plane

A couple of small airplanes in front of a TWA airplane at the Pima Air and Space Museum

A retired commercial TWA Airplane with small planes to show scale

What I didn’t know was that the Pima Air and Space Museum covered what seemed like miles and miles. Beside the vast tarmac with planes of every type and size, there are four hangars, a space gallery, a museum store and the Flight Grill.

A large bomber airplane painted dark olive at the Pima Air and Space Museum

Boeing B-52D Stratofortress Bomber 1956 – 1983

I have never seen so many planes in one place! There were even planes suspended from the ceilings in all of the hangars.

A gray military F-4 jet at the Pima Air and Space Museum

Mc Donnell YF-4J Phantom Fighter Jet
1958 – Present

When we visited the Flight Grill was closed due to Covid-19 and they were not giving any tram tours. Fortunately I had worn very comfy walking shoes because there was quite a lot of ground to cover. Literally!!!

Concept

A huge Air Force plane

A small white glider plane with a burgundy and navy stripe at the Pima Air and Space Museum

I think this may be a glider. Very sleek with no visible engines!

The idea for the Pima Air and Space Museum began in 1966 during the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the creation of the United States Air Force. Earlier the commanders of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center the forerunner to today’s 309th Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group recognized that the historic World War II and 1950s era aircraft stored on the base were rapidly disappearing into smelters. The flames were consuming not just metal, but the aviation heritage of the country. On their own initiative, base officials began to set aside examples of the many types of aircraft stored at the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center. These planes were placed along the base’s fence line so that the public could see them through the fence. The display quickly became very popular with the local community but viewing the aircraft through the fence was somewhat unsatisfying.

Foundation

A white and gold Army airplane with propeller engines on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum

United States Army Propeller Engine Airplane

In 1966, Colonel I. R. Perkin, the commander of Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center joined with members of the Tucson chapter of the Air Force Association to found the Tucson Air Museum Foundation of Pima County. Their goal was to create a publicly accessible museum based around the aircraft already collected on the base.

An olive green and bright metallic gold plane at the Pima Air and Space Museum

This beauty is highlighted with 24 Karat Gold paint!

The Foundation received the enthusiastic backing of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and the County Department of Parks and Recreation. With the backing of the County government the search for a site for the museum soon settled on a 320-acre plot of Federal Bureau of Land Management land just south of Davis-Monthan AFB. The Foundation raised the purchase price of $800 and donated the money to the county for the purchase.

A dark gray plane and a white and blue plane at the Pima Air and Space Museum

A pair of NASA planes

On September 11, 1968, United States Representative Morris K. Udall presented the land to Pima County on behalf of the BLM. Before the aircraft set aside for the museum could be moved to the new site the area had to be prepared to meet the requirements of the United States Air Force Museum. The county authorized the fencing and lighting of approximately 30 acres of the new park for the initial museum site. For the next several years the Foundation set about raising the money needed to make the site ready.

First major acquisition

A very large cargo plane painted in camouflage at the Pima Air and Space Museum

A C-130 military cargo plane

In 1969 the Foundation made its first major acquisition from outside of Tucson. That year the government of the Republic of India retired the last operational Consolidated B-24 Liberators in the world. One of the Foundation’s leaders, Lt. Colonel Rhodes Arnold wrote to the Chief of the Indian Air Staff in New Delhi, asking that one of the rare bombers be donated to the museum.

A white and blue plane used by Presidents in the 1960s at the Pima Air and Space Museum

This Airforce One was used by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson 1961 – 1965

An old military plane that once was used by General Eisenhower is on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum

C-121A “Columbine 1” Assigned General Eisenhower December 1950 to 1952. This was the first of three Columbines delivered to the USAF on February 4, 1949 and retired from service June 1967.

Much to everyone’s surprise the Indian government agreed, as long as the Foundation paid all the costs of delivery. On March 22, 1969 after several months of gathering sponsors and fund raising, a volunteer U.S. Air Force crew arrived in India to pick up the Liberator. After stops in the Middle East, Europe, Canada, and back at the factory in Fort Worth, Texas where it had been built, the B-24 arrived in Tucson on April 27, 1969, thirty-one days and 11,000 miles after leaving India. Dignitaries from the U.S. Air Force, the Indian government and Pima County, led by aviation pioneer General Jimmy Doolittle were on hand to greet the plane and congratulate the crew on their achievement.

The collection grows

A large fighter jet painted in camouflage at the Pima Air and Space Museum

McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II Fighter 1962-1985

Meanwhile, preparations for the move to the new museum site continued, but it was not until 1973 that the museum was ready for inspection and certification by the Air Force Museum. The first thirty-five aircraft began moving to the new museum in August 1973. Around this time the Foundation acquired the last of the World War II barracks buildings at Davis-Monthan and transported them to the museum to house small displays. Over the next two years more planes joined the collection and by 1975 approximately 50 aircraft, helicopters, and missiles had been gathered. It was decided to open the museum in 1976 as a part of the celebration of the United States Bicentennial, and on May 8, 1976 the museum’s gates opened to the public.

Name changes

A gray F-14 fighter jet on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum

The Grumman F-14A Tomcat was made famous by the movie Top Gun

In the early 1990s the museum and foundation recognized that with the addition of the Titan Missile Museum and the expansion of Pima’s collection the original museum and foundation names no longer represented the true scope of the institution. So, in 1992, the name of the museum was changed to “Pima Air and Space Museum” to more accurately reflect the museum’s growing focus on space travel as well as aviation. Finally, in 1995 the name of the foundation was changed to “The Arizona Aerospace Foundation.”

Space Gallery

A white jet with red and blue stripes on the nose at the Pima Air and Space Museum

US Air Force Jet

A small bright yellow and black plane at the Pima Air and Space Museum

The Bumble Bee!

In 1999, the opening of the museum’s new Space Gallery emphasized this new focus. The Space Gallery houses comprehensive exhibits on space exploration. Highlights of the exhibit include a full-size mockup of the Apollo Capsule and a Lunar rock sample. In addition, the Space Gallery houses an exhibition examining the materials used in the construction of air and spacecraft. The building also houses the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame.

And the growth continues

A blue jet with Blue Angels in gold lettering at the Pima Air and Space Museum

Blue Angels US Navy Jet

In 2006, the museum began construction of an expansion to Hangar 1 that when finished more than doubled the display space of the original building. A new museum store allowed the separation of the gift shop from the admissions area and the modernization of both areas. Hangar 1 was again expanded in 2010 with the addition of 20,000 square feet of new display space and a new, greatly expanded restaurant facility.

A small bright red airplane belonging to the Royal Airforce at the Pima Air and Space Museum

This gorgeous plane belonged to the Royal Airforce

In 2015, the continued growth of the museum’s collection required the construction of a third building to house World War II era aircraft. Centered around both American and Japanese aircraft recovered from the battlefields of New Guinea this building gives visitors a detailed look at World War II in the Pacific and Asia. By 2020, the Pima Air and Space Museum has grown to be one of the largest aviation museums in the country (the largest non-government funded) with over 250,000 square feet of indoor display space and a collection of around 400 aircraft.