The Palm Springs Air Museum (PSAM), is a non-profit educational institution in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

. The Museum's mission is to exhibit, educate and eternalize the role of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

combat aircraft A military aircraft is any fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary armed service of any type. Military aircraft can be either combat or non-combat: * Combat aircraft are designed to destroy enemy equipm ...

and the role the pilots and American citizens had in winning the war. In addition to flying aircraft, related artifacts, artwork, and library sources are used to perpetuate American history. It contains one of the world's largest collections of flying World War II warplanes, many of which were built in Southern California. Many of these aircraft have been used by motion picture companies in movies set during the second world war. Located on the north-east side of the

Palm Springs International Airport Palm Springs International Airport , formerly Palm Springs Municipal Airport, is an airport two miles (3 km) east of downtown Palm Springs, California, United States. The airport covers and has two runways. The facility operates year-roun ...

, the Air Museum is housed in a new structure that includes three main display hangars, theater, gift shop, ramp and airport access for flight demonstrations and visiting planes, research library, simulator and education center. An extensive collection of aviation art by Stan Stokes.

History

The museum was founded by Bob Pond and Pete Madison. It opened to the public on 11 November 1996. Originally operating in concert with the

Planes of Fame Planes of Fame Air Museum is an aviation museum in Chino, California, Chino, California,Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the 16th-largest city in the State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,198. The city is adjacent to the north bank of th ...

, following the closure of that museum the aircraft were moved to the Palm Springs Air Museum. The museum opened a new hangar, named for Major General Ken Miles, in May 2017. The museum announced plans to renovate its entrance and add a large classroom in 2022.

Collection

* Aero S-106 ''1112'' * Bell AH-1G Cobra ''67-15574'' * Bell H-13 Sioux – on loan * Bell P-63A Kingcobra ''42-68864'' * Bell UH-1B Iroquois ''63-8610'' * Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Kaydet ''38393'' * Boeing VB-17G Flying Fortress ''44-85778'' *

CAC Sabre The CAC Sabre, sometimes known as the Avon Sabre or CA-27, is an Australian variant of the North American Aviation F-86F Sabre fighter aircraft. The F-86F was redesigned and built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). Equipping five ...

''F-8612/F-8607'' – on loan *

Cessna O-2 Skymaster The Cessna O-2 Skymaster (nicknamed "Oscar Deuce") is a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster, used for forward air control (FAC) and psychological operations (PSYOPS) by the US military between 1967 and 2010. Design and developm ...

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...

''48426'' *

Convair F-102A 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 purpo ...

''56-1432'' – on loan * Convair F-106B Delta Dart ''57-2509'' * Curtiss TP-40N Warhawk ''44-7084'' * Douglas B-26C Invader ''44-35721'' * Douglas RC-47 Dakota ''035'' *

Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/div ...

''36176'' – on loan *

Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta-winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed an ...

''154649'' – on loan * Erco 415D Ercoupe ''4019'' *

Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechaniz ...

''53-8154'' – fuselage only *

General Dynamics F-16C Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

''163277'' – on loan *

Grumman A-6E Intruder The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace and operated by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. It was designed in response to a 1957 r ...

''154162'' – on loan * Grumman C-1A Trader ''146048'' *

Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

''94473'' * Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat ''80412'' *

Grumman F-14A Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

''160898'' – on loan * Grumman FM-2 Wildcat ''55627'' * Grumman G-58B Gulfhawk ''D-1262'' *

Grumman Gulfstream 1 The Grumman Gulfstream I (company designation G-159) is a twin-turboprop business aircraft. It first flew on August 14, 1958. Design and development After first rejecting an idea to develop the Grumman Widgeon as an executive transport, the comp ...

– owned by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

, on loan from the Disney Archives * General Motors TBM-3 Avenger ''53785'' *

Lockheed F-104G Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of ...

''D-8244'' *

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 air ...

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon The Lockheed Ventura is a twin-engine medium bomber and patrol bomber of World War II. The Ventura first entered combat in Europe as a bomber with the RAF in late 1942. Designated PV-1 by the United States Navy (US Navy), it entered combat in ...

''37211'' * Lockheed TV-2 ''126591'' * McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II ''153851'' – on loan *

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now ...

''162403'' – on loan *

North American TB-25N 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 ...

''44-86747'' *

North American F-100D 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 ...

''3-888'' * North American P-51D Mustang ''9273'' *

North American T-6G 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 forces ...

''49-3402'' * North American T-28B Trojan ''138203'' *

Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United S ...

''163030'' – on loan *

Piper J-3 Cub 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 Pi ...

''4594'' *

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak The Republic F-84F Thunderstreak was an American swept-wing turbojet fighter-bomber. While an evolutionary development of the straight-wing F-84 Thunderjet, the F-84F was a new design. The RF-84F Thunderflash was a photo reconnaissance version ...

''51-9531'' – on loan * Republic F-105D Thunderchief ''61‐0108'' – on loan *

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt The P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II fighter aircraft built by Republic Aviation from 1941 to 1945. Early designs XP-47 (AP-10) In response to a USAAC requirement for a new fighter aircraft, Republic Aviation engineer Alexander Kartveli p ...

''122'' * Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse ''154895'' * Supermarine Spitfire XIV ''SG108/RM694'' * Vought FG-1D Corsair ''92629''

References

External links

*
Organizational Profile
–

National Center for Charitable Statistics The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is a clearing house for information about the nonprofit sector of the U.S. economy. The National Center for Charitable Statistics builds national, state, and regional databases and develops st ...

(

Urban Institute The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and pr ...

) {{authority control Aerospace museums in California Museums in Riverside County, California Buildings and structures in Palm Springs, California Military in Riverside County, California Military and war museums in California Tourist attractions in Palm Springs, California

History

Collection

References

Further reading

External links