Museum of Flying in Santa Monica
In Santa Monica, California, there is a privately owned, charitable organization aviation museum called The Museum of Flying. It was established in 1974, shut down in 2002, and then officially opened in a specified place in 2012. The museum in Southern California features an exhibition on the development of air transport, with a special focus on Donald Douglas and the Douglas Aircraft Corporation.
The History Behind
When Santa Monica Airport opened in 1974, the Douglas Museum and Library was situated on its southern side. In 1989, the exhibition relocated to the northern part of the airport and resurfaced as the Museum of Flying. Over fifty vintage airplanes have been added to the collection of the museum over the years, a majority of which were produced in Southern California and remain in operable situation.
The painting, displays, and artifacts in the national art gallery chart the growth of air transport in Southern California. The Douglas World Cruiser “New Orleans,” which also flew the first global trip around the world in 1924 with its sister ship the “Chicago,” served as the gallery’s linchpin aircraft. The “Chicago” is currently housed at the National Air & Space Museum of the Brookings Institution.
The museum hosted several important and noteworthy important programs and events over the following decades, such as “A Walk on the Moon” in 1999, which was attended by eight NASA lunar cosmonauts. The children’s A’s Award Flight Program was among the most well-liked initiatives. Children who earned a passing grade “A” in whatsoever school study were eligible for a free flight on predetermined timeframes as a recompense for their commitment to learning. The exhibition also offered a variety of other learning programs for youngsters and adults, such as pro bono lectures and family fun master classes.
Due to financial difficulties, the exhibition was compelled to temporarily shut down in July 2002. Since then, representatives of the museum have signed a rental agreement contract with the City of Santa Monica.
Exhibits and features
The museum has a well of almost 22,000 square foot showcase and showcase space (2,000 m2). The museum offers showcases and educational demonstrations on the growth and evolution of Southern California’s aerospace and aviation economy, as well as information on the heritage of flying, the Douglas Aircraft Company, and the Santa Monica Airport. About a dozen airplanes, including a replica of the Wright Flyer and Lockheed Vega that were both showcased in the movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, are on permanent display, which documents the history of the plane from its inception. These two items were gifts from mid-twentieth-century production companies.
The entrance to the Museum is dominated by model parameters of the North American F-86 Sabre and Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. A high point of the exhibition is a partly external nose segment from a Boeing 727-200 that Federal Express made donations to and used for two decades in their ships. Additionally, the Museum houses a decent supply of aerospace artwork, unique artifacts, and memorabilia from illustrious aviator glasses, in addition to a sizable gathering of images of an ancient aeroplane.