The Hiller Aviation Museum is an
aircraft history museum located at the
San Carlos Airport in
San Carlos, California
San Carlos (Spanish for "St. Charles") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population is 30,722 per the 2020 census.
History
Native Americans
Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1769, the land of San Carlos was occupi ...
. The museum was founded by
Stanley Hiller in June 1998. and is endowed by members of the Hiller family. It specializes in
Northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
aircraft history and helicopter history. The museum is also an affiliate within the
Smithsonian Affiliations
Smithsonian Affiliations is a division of the Smithsonian Institution that establishes long-term partnerships with non-Smithsonian museums and educational and cultural organizations in order to share collections, exhibitions and educational stra ...
program.
Permanent exhibits
This museum has more than 50
aerospace vehicles along with companion descriptive displays concerning the history of flight. Some of the exhibits include:
* The
Hiller XH-44
The Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter (''Experimental Hiller, 1944'') is an American experimental helicopter designed by Stanley Hiller.
Design and development
Stanley Hiller became interested in helicopters in the late 1930s, when he saw pictures o ...
(replica), first
coaxial
In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''.
Common examples:
A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...
helicopter to fly in the US
* The
Hiller Flying Platform
The Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee (U.S. Army designation; earlier Army designation: HO-1) was a unique direct-lift rotor aircraft, using contra-rotating ducted fans for lift inside a platform upon which the single pilot shifted body weight for directional ...
, an experimental aircraft from 1955 to give a single passenger low-altitude flight
* The front 45 feet of a
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
*
Fairchild 24
*
Stearman-Hammond Y-1
The Stearman-Hammond Y-1 was a 1930s American utility monoplane built by the Stearman-Hammond Aircraft Corporation and evaluated by the United States Navy and the British Royal Air Force.
Development
In the early 1930s Dean Hammond designed the ...
, a mid-1930s trainer also used as a remotely piloted aircraft
* The
Rutan Defiant
The Rutan Model 40 Defiant is a four-seat, twin-engine homebuilt aircraft with the engines in a push-pull configuration. It was designed by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan for the Rutan Aircraft Factory.
]
Development
The prototype Defiant, ...
,
Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record- ...
's personal homebuilt airplane.
* A
Grumman HU-16 Albatross
The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large, twin–radial engined amphibious aircraft, amphibious seaplane that was used by the United States Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), primarily as a search and rescue (SA ...
that was the first to circumnavigate the earth.
Grumman HU-16-RD “Albatross”
/ref>
* The NASA AD-1
The NASA AD-1 was both an aircraft and an associated flight test program conducted between 1979 and 1982 at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards California, which successfully demonstrated an aircraft wing that could be pivoted obliqu ...
oblique wing research aircraft.
Annual airshow
This museum sponsored Vertical Challenge, an annual all-helicopter airshow from 2000-2010, and a final one in 2012. In 2011 and 2016 an aviation festival event called Heli-Fest was held instead.
See also
* Coleopter
A coleopter is a type of VTOL aircraft design that uses a ducted fan as the primary fuselage of the entire aircraft. Generally they appear to be a large barrel-like extension at the rear, with a small cockpit area suspended above it. Coleopters ...
* List of aerospace museums
This is a list of aviation museums and museums that contain significant aerospace-related exhibits throughout the world. The aviation museums are listed alphabetically by country and their article name.
Afghanistan
* OMAR Mine Museum, Kabul - inc ...
References
Sources
''Fact Sheet''
External links
Hiller Aviation Museum official website
{{authority control
Aerospace museums in California
Museums in San Mateo County, California
Smithsonian Institution affiliates
1998 establishments in California