The Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42, formerly known as the Palmdale Plant 42 Heritage Airpark is an aviation museum and

airpark A residential airpark (also spelled air park) is also referred to as a "fly-in community". The word can also refer to a community specifically designed around an airport where the residents each would own their own airplane which they park in thei ...

located in Palmdale, California with various United States military aircraft on display. The park is located adjacent to the

United States Air Force Plant 42 United States Air Force Plant 42 is a classified aircraft manufacturing plant owned by the United States Air Force in the Antelope Valley, about from downtown Los Angeles. It is also used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N ...

and the Blackbird Airpark Museum. All of the aircraft on display were donated or loaned to the city of Palmdale, which owns and operates the park.

History

The Palmdale Plant 42 Heritage Airpark was established on October 20, 1998, by the city of Palmdale and the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

on land donated to the city of Palmdale by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. The park is located at 2001 East Avenue P. It is adjacent to

to the north and the Blackbird Airpark Museum to the east. The aviation museum was established commemorate the various aircraft which were designed, built, and flown at Plant 42. In 2008, park was renamed to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42 to honor Joe Davies, a resident of Palmdale who served as the commander of Plant 42 from 1963 to 1967 and later served three terms on the Palmdale city council from 1988 to 1996. A memorial plaque was installed at the park in 2021. The park has a program called "Adopt-a-Plane" which cleans aircraft on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Admission and parking are free, and the park is open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Most of its employees are volunteers.

Aircraft on display

The aviation museum has a total of 21 retired military aircraft and a 1:8 scale model on display. The first aircraft to be put on display at the park was a

North American F-100 Super Sabre The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971 and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century Series of ...

(

Bureau number In the United States, all military aircraft display a serial number to identify individual aircraft. These numbers are located on the aircraft tail, so they are sometimes referred to unofficially as "tail numbers". On the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spi ...

: 54–2299). On September 12, 2014, one of the two Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft ( Tail number: N911NA) was put on display at the park as a part of a long-term loan from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

to the city of Palmdale. According to the city of Palmdale, the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark could display a Boeing 767, a

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was an American interceptor aircraft designed and manufactured by Convair. Built as part of the backbone of the United States Air Force's air defenses in the late 1950s, it entered service in 1956. Its main purpos ...

, a

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational aircr ...

, a

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, th ...

, a

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and attack ...

, a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, and a

Rockwell-MBB X-31 The Rockwell-Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm X-31 was an experimental jet fighter designed to test fighter thrust vectoring technology. It was designed and built by Rockwell and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), as part of a joint US and German '' ...

in the future. The park plans to have over 40 aircraft on display. In addition to the aircraft on display, the aviation museum also uses various salvaged aircraft parts as decoration elements. All of the aircraft displayed by the park were donated or loaned to the city of Palmdale. The following table lists all the aircraft on display.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Palmdale, California Parks in Los Angeles County, California

History

Aircraft on display

See also

Notes

References

External links