The Lone Star Flight Museum, located in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, is an

aerospace museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, models, dioramas, cl ...

that displays more than 24 historically significant aircraft, and many artifacts related to the history of flight. The museum's collection is rare because most of the aircraft are flyable. Located at Ellington Airport, the museum is housed on about 100,000 ft² (10,000 m²) of property, including its own airport ramp. The museum, formerly located in Galveston, moved to Houston to avoid a repeat of the devastation suffered during

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

History

The museum began as a private collection of historic aircraft in 1985. By 1990, that collection had grown enough that its owner decided to place them on public display. The Lone Star Flight Museum, a non-profit organization funded entirely through private donations, was formed for that purpose.

2008 damage and restoration

The museum reported heavy damage from

, stating on September 16, 2008, that the hangars and Hall of Fame had received seven to eight feet of water and the lobby three to four. Damaged aircraft included a TB-58A and F-100 on loan from the US Air Force Museum, Consolidated PBY-5A, Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, de Havilland DH-82A, Grumman F3F-2, Lockheed PV-2D, and Stinson L-5. Aircraft flown out of harm's way in advance included their B-17, B-25, DC-3, P-47, F6F, F4U, SBD, PT-17, T-6 and the F8F. Most of the airworthy planes were flown out of the museum prior to the hurricane. Those remaining as well as the static displays were largely destroyed or heavily damaged. The TB-58 went to

Little Rock Air Force Base Little Rock Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. Little Rock AFB is the primary C-130 Hercules training base for the Department of Defense, training C-130 pilots, naviga ...

. The PBY-5A and the PB4Y-2 went to the

Pima Air & Space Museum The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus occ ...

TF-51 crash

On October 23, 2013 a P-51 (TF-51) Mustang owned by the museum crashed in Halls Lake, just south west of the museum. Both the pilot and a paying passenger from the UK were killed in the crash.

Move to Houston

Following the destruction of Hurricane Ike, the museum made the decision to move to Ellington International Airport in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. It is working with the

Collings Foundation The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit educational foundation located in Stow, Massachusetts, with a mission dedicated to the preservation and public display of transportation-related history, namely automobile and aviation history. The C ...

and Texas Flying Legends to create a combined aviation museum complex. In March 2014, the museum received $7.6 million from FEMA. The museum broke ground at its new location on November 9, 2015. Initially scheduled to be dedicated on September 1, 2017, the opening was postponed to September 16 due to

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

. The museum acquired a former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Motion Base Simulator from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

Exhibits

The museum has featured exhibits on the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

and

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

Texas Aviation Hall of Fame

The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame, located within the museum, honors the contributions of residents or natives of Texas to aviation and spaceflight. Inductees include

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

Gordon Bethune Gordon M. Bethune (born August 29, 1941) is a retired US airline executive. He was the CEO of Continental Airlines from 1994 until his retirement at the end of 2004. He formerly served on the boards of Honeywell and Prudential Financial. Bethune wa ...

Emma Carter Browning Emma Carter Browning (October 26, 1910 – April 23, 2010) was an American pilot and aviation executive from Texas. Browning was born on October 26, 1910 in Eastland, Texas to James William Carter and Pamela Lousia Gilbreath. She was one of elev ...

Alan Bean Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932 – May 26, 2018) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter; he was the fourth person to walk on the Moon. He was selected to become an astron ...

, Senator

Lloyd Bentsen Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (February 11, 1921 – May 23, 2006) was an American politician who was a four-term United States Senator (1971–1993) from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ti ...

Azellia White Azellia White (June 3, 1913 – September 15, 2019) was an American aviator who was one of the first African Americans, African-American women to earn a pilot's license in the United States. She is recognized as a trailblazer, overcoming widespread ...

and President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

Airshows

The museum's collection often participates in airshows across the country. As of 2005, the museum's aircraft annually log more than 40,000 miles (60,000 km) of

cross-country flying Cross-country flying ( XC flying) is a type of distance flying which is performed in a powered aircraft on legs over a given distance and in operations between two points using navigational techniques; and an unpowered aircraft (paraglider, hang g ...

to various air demonstrations. The museum's

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

participates in USAF Heritage Flights throughout the year. The USAF Heritage Flight program was established in 1997 to commemorate the Air Force's 50th anniversary. It involves today's state-of-the-art fighters flying in close formation with World War II, Korean and Vietnam era fighters such as the P-51 Mustang and the F-86 Sabre. The flight's mission is to safely and proudly display the evolution of US Air Force airpower and to support the Air Force's recruiting and retention efforts. The museum's

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

also serves closely with the Disabled American Veterans program. The DAV Airshow Outreach Program was developed to increase public awareness of disabled veterans and to serve veterans in communities across the nation. Using two B-25 medium bombers, the program reminds the public of the sacrifices veterans have made. In 2007, the museum launched its newest program by offering rides in some of its warbirds. The LSFM now operates flights for passengers in the

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

T-6 Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air force ...

and the PT-17 Stearman. The Museum also has a flying

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

in the paint scheme of

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

. The Museum's DC-3 was produced in 1940 and flew seven years for American Airlines. It was later bought by TransTexas Airways, which would later acquire Continental Airlines. When Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines, was inducted into the TAHF in 2004, Continental Airlines donated the aircraft to the Flight Museum.

Collection

* Boeing N2S-3 Kaydet ''7718'' * Boeing N2S-5 Kaydet ''38490'' * Cessna 172E Skyhawk – It has been converted to T-41 configuration. *

''2213'' * Douglas A-24B Dauntless ''42-54682'' – It is painted as an SBD. * Fairchild PT-19 Cornell *

General Motors TBM Avenger A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

''53575'' – It was damaged by

on September 13, 2008. *

Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

''51-6953'' *

North American B-25J Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

''44-86734'' ''44-86734'' * North American SNJ-5 Texan ''85053'' *

Piper L-4 Grasshopper The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

* Vought F4U-5N Corsair ''121881''

References

External links

Lone Star Flight Museum
{{authority control Aerospace museums in Texas Military and war museums in Texas Ellington Airport (Texas)