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 ...

maintains a number of Field Museums and Heritage Centers.

Current museums

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...

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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wr ...

, Dayton, Ohio *

Air Force Armament Museum The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non-profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation. ...

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Eglin AFB Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida Panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test Wing (formerly the 96th Air Base Wing). The 9 ...

, near Valparaiso, Florida *

Air Force Flight Test Center Museum The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

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Edwards AFB Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

, near North Edwards and Rosamond, California * Air Force Space and Missile Museum –

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

, north of

Patrick Space Force Base Patrick Space Force Base is a United States Space Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick, USAAC. It is home to Space ...

and Cocoa Beach, Florida *

Air Mobility Command Museum The Air Mobility Command Museum a military aviation museum located at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware dedicated to the history of the Air Transport Command, Military Air Transport Service, Military Airlift Command and Air Mobility Command. ...

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Dover AFB Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware. 436th AW is the host wing and runs the busiest and largest air ...

, near Dover, Delaware *

Barksdale Global Power Museum The Barksdale Global Power Museum (formerly, the 8th Air Force Museum) is an aviation museum run by the United States Air Force on Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, Louisiana. Hosted by the 2nd Bomb Wing, it maintains a large collect ...

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Barksdale AFB Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB ...

, near Bossier City, Louisiana * Enlisted Heritage Research Institute – Maxwell AFB, Alabama *

Hill Aerospace Museum Hill Aerospace Museum is a military aviation museum located at Hill Air Force Base in Roy, Utah. It is dedicated to the history of the base and aviation in Utah. History Preparations for a museum began in 1984, when ground was broken on an "Ae ...

– northwest of

Hill AFB Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adjacent t ...

, near Ogden, Utah * Malmstrom Museum –

Malmstrom AFB Malmstrom Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place (CDP) in Cascade County, Montana, United States, adjacent to the city of Great Falls. It was named in honor of World War II POW Colonel Einar Axel Malmstrom. ...

, Montana *

McChord Air Museum The McChord Air Museum is an aviation museum located at McChord Field near Lakewood, Washington. The museum is broken up into three separate areas: the main gallery, located at the south end of McChord Field in Building 517; the Heritage Hill Ai ...

– McChord AFB, near Tacoma, Washington * Museum of Aviation – near

Robins AFB Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast ...

, Warner Robins, Georgia * Peterson Air and Space Museum –

Peterson AFB Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the No ...

, Colorado Springs, Colorado * Sheppard AFB Heritage Center – Sheppard AFB, Texas * South Dakota Air and Space Museum – Box Elder, South Dakota (outside the main gate of

Ellsworth AFB Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located about northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assigned to the Global Stri ...

) * Thunderbirds Museum –

Nellis AFB Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloq.) is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in " Military Op ...

, near Las Vegas, Nevada * Travis Air Force Base Aviation Museum –

Travis AFB Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, California ...

, near Fairfield, California * USAF Airman Heritage Museum –

Lackland AFB Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Bexar County, Texas. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and an enclave of the city of Sa ...

, Texas * Warren ICBM and Heritage Museum – F.E. Warren AFB, near Cheyenne, Wyoming

Closed museums

* Air Force Rescue Memorial Museum – Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico (closed January 1990) * Beale Air Force Base Museum –

Beale Air Force Base Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east of Marysville, California. It is located outside Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about north of Sacramento. The host ...

, east of Marysville, California (closed in February 1995) * Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Museum – Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona (closed 1949) * Fairchild Heritage Museum – Fairchild Air Force Base,

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

(closed 2002) * Lowry Heritage Museum –

Lowry Air Force Base Lowry Air Force Base (Lowry Field in 1938–1948) is a former United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base during World War II and a United States Air Force (USAF) training base during the Cold War, serving as the initial 1955–1958 si ...

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

* Edward H. White II Museum of Aerospace Medicine –

Brooks City-Base Brooks is a mixed-use development that was founded on the former Brooks Air Force Base when the United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight ...

, San Antonio, Texas (closed in 2011) * Plattsburgh Air Force Base Museum – Plattsburgh Air Force Base, Plattsburgh, New York (closed in 1995) * Randolph Air Force Base Museum –

Randolph Air Force Base Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Un ...

Universal City, Texas Universal City is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States. It borders San Antonio to the northeast, and is adjacent to Randolph Air Force Base. The population was 19,720 at the 2020 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistica ...

(closed in 1958) * Silver Wings Aviation Museum –

Mather Air Force Base Mather Air Force Base (Mather AFB) was a United States Air Force Base, which was closed in 1993 pursuant to a post-Cold War BRAC decision. It was located east of Sacramento, on the south side of U.S. Route 50 in Sacramento County, Californ ...

, near

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

* USAF Security Forces Museum –

, next to San Antonio, Texas (closed in August 2014)

Former museums

These museums were once part of the Air Force museum system, but have since become private: *

Aerospace Museum of California The Aerospace Museum of California is a private non-profit aviation museum located in North Highlands, California, outside of Sacramento, California, on the grounds of the former McClellan Air Force Base. The museum has a 4.5-acre outdoor Air Pa ...

Castle Air Museum Castle Air Museum is a military aviation museum located in Atwater, California, United States adjacent to Castle Airport, a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base which was closed in 1995, after the end of the Cold War. It ...

* Grissom Air Museum *

March Field Air Museum The March Field Air Museum is an aviation museum near Moreno Valley and Riverside, California, adjacent to March Air Reserve Base. History The museum was founded in 1979 as March Air Force Base Museum. One of the first exhibits at the museum was ...

* Minnesota Air National Guard Museum *

Selfridge Military Air Museum The Selfridge Military Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Mount Clemens, Michigan. History The museum was founded in 1975 by Colonel Robert A. Stone. The museum was moved slightly in 2000 to acco ...

* Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum

References

Footnotes

Notes

External links

Air Force Museums and their Civilian Counterparts: Improving Both Sides of the Challenge Coin

Department of the Air Force Heritage Program

Museums and Money

The History of the Air Force History and Museums Program
{{United States Air Force Museums

Museums A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

* * *Air Force