Aerospace Museum of California

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Aerospace Museum of California is a private nonprofit aviation museum in McClellan, California, near Sacramento, on the site of the former McClellan Air Force Base. It began in 1982 as the Air Force Logistics Museum of the West and was soon renamed the McClellan Aviation Museum. It opened to the public in 1986 after refurbishing an old base building and was chartered by the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

In 2001, during the Base Realignment and Closure process, most of the collection was transferred to the new Aerospace Museum of California as indefinite loans, and the organization became a nonprofit. Facing land-lease issues, the museum planned a move to Freedom Park, hired a new director, and in 2005 adopted the current name. On January 5, 2007, it opened the Hardie Setzer Pavilion and a 4.5-acre Air Park, expanding displays to include commercial and private aircraft as well as military planes from all services. The Old Crow Café opened in 2021.

Mission and programs
- The museum aims to inspire students to explore STEM through hands-on learning and to give 30,000 Sacramento-area kids a STEM experience.
- The Flight Zone features six stations with the X-Plane 12 flight simulator, where visitors can fly a plane with guidance from instructors. It’s designed for 5th to 12th-grade students and is open to the public.

Collections and exhibits
- The museum has over 40 aircraft, from a restored Fairchild PT-19 to a Grumman F-14D Tomcat (retired in 2006).
- It houses many aircraft engines, including World War I rotary engines, large radial engines, and jet engines such as the J58 used on the SR-71.
- There is also an art gallery with more than 50 original works from the Air Force and Coast Guard art collections.