Military Aviation Museum

The Beginning

The Military Aviation Museum was born from the owner's passion for WWII era aircraft, and over the years, it has grown to a living history museum that rivals any other of its kind in the world.

The first aircraft was the Curtiss P40 salvaged from the tundra in Siberia, Russia. Each aircraft, whether salvaged in pieces, found derelict in an old barn, or purchased from another museum's collection, has been meticulously restored by military aviation engineers and experts.

Over the years, the museum has grown from a small, private grass airfield in the Pungo community of southern Virginia Beach to a complex of three museum hangars and a maintenance hangar, with more construction underway.

Virginia Beach Airport

The museum is located at the Virginia Beach Airport, a private-use airfield that was begun by four local pilots in 1969 under the name Atlantic Air Park. Their original vision included a runway, hotel, restaurant, a small terminal, and multiple hangars. Plans were soon scrapped and much of the land was returned to agriculture. The runway did remain active and was used for crop dusting planes and banner planes.

Early in the twenty-first century, the current owner purchased the property and began planning the museum.

See Us Today

In 2010, the museum also replicated its Fighter Factory maintenance facility from Suffolk to the museum property. During the normal work week, museum visitors can take a guided tour of the Fighter Factory and see the team of aircraft maintenance technicians performing regular maintenance and minor restoration work on the various planes.

And There's More to Come

The museum recently finished reconstruction of an original WWII hangar purchased in Germany. This metal hangar was built at the Cottbus Army Air Field in Cottbus, Germany (southeast of Berlin) in 1934. Once open, it will house the museum's Luftwaffe aircraft.

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