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The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to one of the world's largest collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, from both World War I and World War II, although the complete collection ranges from the 1910s to the early 1950s.
Its mission is to "preserve, restore and fly these historic aircraft and to allow a new generation to experience and learn from what [their forbears] might have endured ... in the skies so very far from home." [2]
Unlike most other collections, which are displayed in a static museum environment, almost all of the historic aircraft at the Museum have been restored to flying condition. In twice-yearly major airshows (one in the spring for WWII planes, and one in the fall for WWI), as well as other special events, the aircraft fly again for the public to view and experience.
The collection also includes a large reference library, along with artifacts and materials to illustrate the historic context of the aircraft in the collection. [3]
The Museum was founded by Gerald "Jerry" Yagen in 2005, and the museum's hangars were opened to the public in 2008. He had been collecting and restoring warbirds since the mid-1990s, starting with the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk, so the creation of a museum to share the collection with the public was the logical next step. [4]
In June 2013 it was reported that the museum and its collection of planes was to be sold off, due to some financial difficulties which Mr. Yagen's business was then experiencing; he was selling his vocational schools business, and no longer had the resources to finance the Museum.[5] An article in the The Virginian-Pilot reported that Mr. Yagen had said "I'm subsidizing it heavily every year and my business no longer allows me to do that financially, and therefore I don't have a solution for it".[6]
However, the announced sale of the museum and aircraft was premature; it was announced only a week later that "the museum won't close soon, some of the facility's planes ... may have to go to keep the operation aloft" and "'we are still open for business and business is normal'".[7]
Several aircraft were indeed sold at that point (see below), but both Mr. Yagen's businesses, and the Museum, are now operating normally. [8]Since the sales in 2013, additional aircraft (including a projected replacement de Havilland Dragon Rapide) have been acquired.
The Museum is housed at its own small private grass airfield, the Virginia Beach Airport, in the Pungo area of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The complex includes two display hangars (one on each side of the main museum building) in one group of buildings, and in another group, a replica WWI-era wooden hangar, a maintenance hangar (entirely new, but an exact replica of a 1937 Works Progress Administration design), a restored authentic pre-WW II Luftwaffe metal hangar, and a set of three identical storage hangars painted to resemble British WWII hangars. [9] [10] [11]
The Luftwaffe hangar was built in 1934 at Cottbus Air Base; after the base was closed during the re-unification of Germany, the Museum obtained the hangar in 2004. It was dismantled and shipped to Virginia Beach and has been re-erected at the Museum where it now houses the Museum's Luftwaffe aircraft. [12] [13] [14]
Also underway is a control tower, a re-erection of a genuine ex-8th AAF World War II tower from RAF Goxhill. A two-story brick and concrete structure, built to Air Ministry drawing 518/40, it was completely disassembled, labeled and shipped to Virginia. It will be re-erected at the Museum's airfield where it will be used as an operational tower. In the UK, some similar towers are now historically protected; when rebuilt, this will be the only such original control tower in the US. [15] [16]
The complex also includes a large orange and white checked water tower, which is visible from a considerable distance and provides a useful landmark for both ground and air travellers.
Some of the aircraft obtained in an un-restored state are handled at the Museum's related repair facility, the Fighter Factory (below); others are restored elsewhere, by contractors with specialized capabilities, including:
The Museum is also connected to the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, which is currently building a small fleet of various WWI replicas, as an exercise for the students, to add to the Museum's collection. The current batch includes a Morane Saulnier, a Nieuport 11, a Nieuport 17, a Nieuport 24, a Sopwith Pup, a Sopwith Camel, a Sopwith 1½ Strutter, and a Fokker D.VIII.[17]
Associated with the Museum is an aircraft restoration and maintenance organization, called The Fighter Factory, started in 1996 to restore the collection's first aircraft (the P-40E). [18]
It was originally located at Norfolk Airport, and later moved to premises at the Suffolk Municipal Airport in Suffolk, Virginia. It currently operates two facilities: the one in Suffolk, and a new facility (in the purpose-built hangar) at the Museum. [19] [20]
Visitors to the Museum can take a guided tour of the Fighter Factory hangar at the Museum, and view the team of maintenance technicians performing tasks such as regular maintenance and minor restoration work on the aircraft of the collection.
(Some may be replicas, but are not listed as such due to incomplete information.)
When the Museum's founder ran into financial difficulties in the summer of 2013, a number of the planes at the Museum were deaccessioned:
The Museum occasionally has aircraft which have been loaned to it; this section lists those which have since departed the Museum.
Manila, Metro Manila, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia
Eurofighter Typhoon, Royal Navy, Malta, Afghanistan, World War I
United States, Canada, Opel, South Korea, Buick
Luftwaffe, Royal Air Force, Turkish Air Force, Messerschmitt Bf 109, Kurt Tank
Isle of Man, India, Canada, European Union, British Overseas Territories
Royal Air Force, Lincolnshire, World War II, Kingston upon Hull, England
Hampton Roads, American Civil War, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Mario
Lincolnshire, Royal Air Force, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, RAF Coningsby, Indian Air Force
Beijing, Texas, Kent, Winnipeg, Bucharest