Toutes les Machines du Monde
North America ~ Aviation & Technical Museums
Click on the photo for each museum to visit our photo page for that museum
Museums are arranged by rating
National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida ★★★★★
A great place to spend a day or two exploring the US Navy’s collection of historic war planes. This is a huge facility with both indoor and outdoor displays of aircraft, including a new annex, and excellent lighting of the exhibits. There are lots of interesting displays along with an IMax theater, restaurant, and plenty of room to roam. The quality and variety of the planes on display together with the creative exhibits make this our favorite of the US aviation museums we've visited. We've been there several times, most recently in the fall of 2015. The pictures on this page are from that visit and I have reworked them in 2020 to improve their quality utilizing newer photo software.
National Air & Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington D.C. ★★★★★
This is the relatively new annex to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum on the Mall in Washington D.C. It was built to house some of the enormous overflow from the collection that could not fit in the original space. It is a wonderful spot to visit, with lots of interesting exhibits including the Enola Gay B-29 bomber from WWII, the space shuttle Discovery, an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and too many more to mention. Your visit is free although there is a charge for parking. We first visited Udvar-Hazy in 2014 and were able to return in January 2020. We’ve posted photos from both visits in this collection.
War Eagles Air Museum, Santa Teresa, New Mexico ★★★★
www.war-eagles-air-museum.com/
Another fine airplane museum that is well worth a stop if you are passing through El Paso. We first visited here in 2002, but returned again in 2014 so we could get some digital photos to share with you. This is a wonderful privately funded collection of not only airplanes, but period automobiles as well. It’s a bit crowded as the collection continues to grow, but everything is lovingly maintained and many of the planes and cars are in flying/driving condition. The hanger space is well organized and the lighting is very good. The museum is located at the airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, but is most easily reached from El Paso, Texas. In 2020 I’ve reworked the photos using newer photo software to improve the images and have also added about 50% more photos to the set.
Dakota Territory Air Museum, Minot, North Dakota ★★★★
www.dakotaterritoryairmuseum.com
This museum was a real surprise to me. No offense intended of course, but Minot, North Dakota? Finding this gem was a real treat. It is a very well run and maintained medium sized aviation museum with an extraordinary collection of WWII planes to complement an excellent gathering of civilian aircraft, with each group housed in a separate building. From a replica Wright Flier built for the centennial celebration in 2003, to a collection of as yet unrestored fire engines in the restoration room, through an interesting collection of civilian aircraft, the exhibits extend to a wonderful collection of WWII War Birds. While the undoubted star of the show is the recently restored P-51 Mustang shown above, to me the most impressive aircraft on the premises was something else altogether. While visiting England, I have been fortunate enough to visit each of the two RAF museums, the one Imperial War Museum that is devoted to aircraft, and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight hanger, where planes are maintained to fly in air shows. Photos of each of these museums can be seen on this website. From that experience I can state that being able to view an actual WWII combat experienced Spitfire is rare indeed; yet there is one to see here in North Dakota. Amazing. I highly recommend a visit to this museum.
WAAAM - Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum, Hood River, Oregon ★★★★
What a nice museum this is. Located along the Columbia River in somewhat out of the way Hood River, Oregon, the museum is quite large and packed to the gills with both planes and cars, with a few motorcycles added to the mix as well. On this site I have listed this museum in both the Automobile and Aviation sections. The museum was opened in 2006 and has had hangar space added twice since then. Nonetheless, the only possible criticism of the museum, and I offer it only as an observation, is that the collection seems to be growing faster than the exhibition space and the result is that the museum is rather more crowded than a visitor might prefer. The museum’s website claims that this is one of the largest collections of still flying and driving antique planes and automobiles in the country. It is also a very active operation with a large cadre of volunteers. All or nearly all of the machines are in flying or driving condition and on the Second Saturday of each month the museum hosts Fly In - Drive In days filled with activities for all. The planes are all civilian rather than military, and I have to say that both the planes and cars appear to be very well maintained. Allow plenty of time for your visit and by all means try to time it for one of the events so you can see these beauties in action. I have listed this museum in both the Aviation and Automotive sections of this website.
Erickson Aircraft Collection ★★★★
This is one of the more focused collections you will find in that it is almost exclusively made up of WWII military aircraft. A single 1930s Stearman biplane used as a training aircraft and a single early jet fighter from the post war period are the only exceptions. Pride of place probably goes to the beautiful B-17 Flying Fortress, said to be one of only ten such planes left in the world in flying condition. Other planes of particular note are a B-25 Mitchell bomber and a P-38 twin engined fighter, both of which appear to be in fully restored condition. All or nearly all of the planes are in flying condition and seem to get quite a lot of flying time. The site housing the collection is a large hanger located in Madras, Oregon and it gives every appearance that it is a working environment, with planes moving in and out regularly. Altogether a good experience for the enthusiast with attractive planes, very good information panels and a light smell of fuel and oil in the air.
National Museum of the US Air Force, Dayton Ohio ★★★★
Another must see for aviation buffs, although we find the naval aviation museum at Pensacola to be more interesting. As with the naval museum, there are many informational displays and separate exhibits for a variety of theaters of war such as the Pacific and European war zones. Unfortunately, this museum is very dark inside and thus is a difficult place to photograph. We have visited Dayton twice, in 2006 and again in 2021, and photos from both visits are shown here.
Reynolds Museum Aviation Hangar, Wetaskiwin, Alberta Canada ★★★
As a part of the wonderful Reynolds Museum in Alberta, the Aviation Hangar makes for an interesting visit. It’s not a large collection, but the aircraft are beautifully maintained and nicely presented. Taken together with the Main Hall exhibits of automotive and agricultural vehicles, the museum experience is highly recommended.
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum ★★★
Best known as the permanent, or at least current, home of Howard Hughes renowned Spruce Goose, the largest wooden airplane ever built, this is a large and clearly well funded museum and waterpark complex. It is also a rather pricey place to visit with adult admission of $22 at the time of our visit in 2023. In all honesty, we travel in the western US quite a lot and I’ve passed on visiting Evergreen several times over the years due to its cost and what I believed would be a less than stellar experience. Eventually I decided that I needed to include the museum on this website so here is my report. As you will see from the photos the most interesting thing about Evergreen is indeed the chance to see the immense size of the Spruce Goose. Even in the large purpose built exhibition space it is nearly impossible to really appreciate the plane's size other than seeing how it dwarfs all the other planes on display. In addition to the Goose, there are some interesting civilian and military planes also in the collection and there are many well presented information panels to be seen. There is also a separate Space display in another building, but I felt that this was quite rudimentary and was notably cluttered and seeming to lack good maintenance and organization. Much of the space in this section was given over to jet aircraft, so despite the presence of some interesting information panels, in my opinion it is more of an extension of the aviation museum rather than an actual Space display. All told the Evergreen Museum does not rate very highly in my opinion, being more of an ‘attraction’ than a serious museum.
Western Development Museum, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada ★★★
There are four branches of the Museum of Western Development in Saskatchewan. The one located in the prairie town of Moose Jaw is the one designated as the Transportation Museum. It houses a large and eclectic display of old cars, trucks, planes, trains and agricultural equipment that factored into the history of the development of the province. As you will see from the photos, the variety of machines is extensive, and while the vehicles displayed are not all in prime condition, for a rural publicly funded museum there is much of interest to be found. On this site I have listed this museum in both the Automobile and Aviation sections. The printed information on the vehicles is extensive and very nicely done. Moose Jaw is a charming place and if you find yourself in Saskatchewan you will want to visit it. When you do, allot a couple of hours to the WDM; you’ll have a good time.
Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina ★★★
Site of the first heavier than air flight in 1903. A small but attractive visitor’s center that was built for the centenary in 2003 includes a reconstruction of the Wright Flier, films and artifacts, and the preserved site of the flights is just outside. An effective but very low key memorial to the historic first flight. We first visited in 2002, while the new building was under construction. We returned in 2010, which is when these photos were taken. I reworked the photos in 2020 in order to improve the images using newer photo software.
Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada ★★
This is a museum to be visited primarily for the memorial aspect of remembering a time and place where thousands of young men and women were trained to be sent off to war. As in the US, early in WWII flight training facilities and programs had to be established to quickly teach young pilots and maintenance people for the war effort. Britain and the Commonwealth countries of Canada, Australia and New Zealand agreed to establish these centers in central Canada and some 230 such locations were active during the war. 175,000 students went through the programs, 17,000 of whom were women. Hangar No 1 here at the Brandon, Manitoba airfield, which was built early in the war and was used as a training center, opened as the museum for the CATP program in 1981. About half of the planes on display are in flying condition.
Tillamook Air Museum, Tillamook, Oregon ★★
You can see this museum from the highway, just south of Tillamook, which is how we first found it many years ago. Housed in an enormous WWII blimp hanger, it’s a unique spot. Funky and small but still interesting and well organized, with a varying collection of aircraft on display. The collection is no longer as interesting as it was in times past because TAM used to be the home of the Erickson Collection, which in 2016 was relocated to its own home in Madras Oregon. The enormous hangar building is a big part of the reason to visit TAM, which we did again in 2021 when we took these photos. You can stop by here on your way to the cheese factory next time you’re on the Oregon coast.