Aerospace Museum of California

Aerospace Museum of California
A view of the entry to the Aerospace Museum of California.
Established 1986 (as the McClellan Aviation Museum)
Location North Highlands, California, United States
Coordinates 38°40′30″N 121°23′28″W / 38.675099°N 121.391029°W / 38.675099; -121.391029Coordinates: 38°40′30″N 121°23′28″W / 38.675099°N 121.391029°W / 38.675099; -121.391029
Type Private: aerospace
Website aerospaceca.org
A FedEx Express Boeing 727-200 registered as N466FE is seen on display at the Aerospace Museum of California.
A FedEx Express Boeing 727 is seen on display at the Aerospace Museum of California.
A Lockheed F-104B Starfighter is seen at the Aerospace Museum of California

The Aerospace Museum of California is an aviation museum located in North Highlands, California on the grounds of the former McClellan Air Force Base. It features displays of authentic military and civilian aircraft as well as space vehicle replicas. It preserves the history and mission of this former base as well as those of neighboring bases like Beale (active) and Mather (closed) Air Force Bases. McClellan Air Force Base closed in 2001 and became McClellan Airfield, a civil aviation airport.

History

The museum was originally established as the McClellan Aviation Museum in 1986. It was chartered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force. In 2001 it incorporated as a non-profit organization. In 2005 its name was changed to the Aerospace Museum of California. In 2004 the museum moved to 3200 Freedom Park Drive, McClellan Park and in February 2007 opened its new 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) Hardie Setzer Pavilion enabling some of the aircraft to be displayed indoors.

Exhibits

The museum has over 40 aircraft in its collection from a fully restored Fairchild PT-19 to one of the last Grumman F-14D Tomcat retired from U.S. Navy service in 2006. In addition to aircraft, the collection includes many other historic artifacts relating to Sacramento's aerospace heritage. It also houses an extensive collection of historic aircraft engines. These include examples ranging from a World War I-era Gnome and Rhone rotary piston engines, large radial piston engines, and jet engines. Jet engines normally in the exhibit hall are GE I-16 (1940, Whittle design), J-57 #35 (1952), and J-58 “turbo-ramjet”, used on the SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3+ spyplane. The museum features an art gallery containing more than 50 original works, many from the Air Force Art Collection and the United States Coast Guard Art Collection. [1]

Notable Aircraft

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About the AMC". Aerospace Museum of California. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20. Retrieved 2007-07-30.


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