| Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Website | www.PacificAviationMuseum.org |
The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor is located on Ford Island, located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.[1] The museum site occupies 16 acres (65,000 m2) of the 440-acre (1.8 km2) island. It includes three historic hangars and an air traffic control tower.
One of the principal Pearl Harbor Historic Sites, the museum is located near the Battleship Missouri and the new USS Oklahoma Memorial in the hangars of historic Ford Island which were attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, marking the beginning of US involvement in World War II.
Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor’s mission is to develop and maintain an internationally recognized aviation museum, which educates young and old alike, honors aviators and the support personnel who fought in the Pacific Region, and is dedicated to preserving Pacific aviation history.
Contents |
On December 7, 2006, the first of five planned phases of the museum, Hangar 37, opened to the public. The hangar's 42,442 square feet (3,943 m2) of space focuses on the attack on Pearl Harbor through the Battle of Guadalcanal and includes a display of Jimmy Doolittle's bomber raid on Tokyo, Japan. Future phases of the museum will be built in other nearby hangars and focus on the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Cold War.
Visitors ride the shuttle bus to Ford Island and view the airfield, control tower, and the museum that occupies World War II hangars that still bear the scars of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Aircraft, such as a Japanese Zero, Grumman Wildcat, and the Stearman in which former President George H. W. Bush soloed as the war’s youngest aviator, illustrate the role of aviation in the Second World War. Visitors can view historic videos, including a movie of the beginning of the war. The museum features a gift shop, 1940s-themed Laniakea Cafe, and combat flight simulators in which guests can virtually fight the Battle of Guadalcanal in either an American or Japanese plane.
The newest attraction is Hangar 79 - The Restoration Shop. In this hangar the most recent arrivals are housed which include two F-86 Sabres, a MiG-15, F-4 Phantom an F-102 Delta Dagger and the F-14 Tomcat used in the filming of Top Gun. Several of the new arrivals were flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard (HIANG). To see these planes visitors take the Aviator's Tour which includes a short 12 minute film in Hangar 37, admission to Hangars 37 and 79, and a guided tour.
The museum has recently announced its national capital campaign for the restoration of two additional standing hangars and the landmark red and white control tower. Once restored these structures will house the growing aircraft collection including the recently arrived Hawaii Air National Guard's F-15 Screaming Eagle and the last U.S. Navy operated Grumman F-14 Tomcat.