Hello everyone,


Early May I will have a chance to fly to San Francisco, then Palm Springs and possibly San Diego, then Los Angeles.

Which museums do you recommend? There are plenty of air & space museums in California. I will have only limited time and need to choose museums not too far from the airports I go through.

Here is what I have so far selected:

USS Hornet at Alameda near San Francisco

USS Midway or San Diego Air & Space museum at San Diego (but I'll have time only for one).

Palm Springs Air Museum at Palm Springs

Flight Path learning Center at LA airport?

Thanks in advice for your advice.

Planes of Fame at Chino? I'm planning on visiting there in September.

March ARB museum has several aircraft, including the A-9 that lost out to the A-10, but they're not always in the best condition.

The Midway and San Diego Aerospace Museum are not that far from each other, so you might be able to do both in one day.

Planes of Fame in Chino is definitely worth it. If you've got some time, you may also want to check out the Southern California Wing of the CAF (formerly the Confederate Air Force, now the Commemorative Air Force)at Camarillo airport. They have a nice little museum and a number of planes (including a Bearcat and a Zero). Camarillo is about an hour NW of downtown LA (considerably more at rush hour) and is just inland from Ventura.

Try the Hiller Aviation Museum near Redwood City (south of San Francisco). They have many interesting displays (some interactive) and many examples of Hiller's work. The flying platform is right out of 50-60s sci-fi and the simulator of it is pretty fun!

http://www.hiller.org/

It's about 30mins south of the city in clear traffic (45-60mins in heavy traffic)

East of the city in Sacramento (probably 1-2 hr drive) is the Aerospace Museum of California, haven't been there yet but looks like some interesting exhibits!

http://www.aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/

Damn and this place is an hour or so away from my home. Gotta plan a roadtrip soon!

Looks like another north of San Francisco in Santa Rosa (hour or more drive at least).

http://www.pacificcoastairmuseum.org/

Looks like an interesting place another road trip for me someday!

Here is a site with several Air museum located in California. Most of them have phone numbers so you could call them before visiting them if the description doesn't give you enough information to decide. http://www.skytamer.com/6.1.USA.California.htm

Yanks Air museum and Planes of Fame are both at Chino airport. Depending on how much time you spend at each of them you could visit both of them on the same day. Planes of Fame is open everyday except for a few holidays but Yanks is not open every day. If you want to visit both on the same day you should call Yanks to find out their hours of operation.

Planes of Fame - http://www.planesoffame.org/index.php

Yanks Air Museum - http://www.yanksair.com/About_Yanks.html

March Field Air Musuem - http://www.marchfield.org/


Wheels

Palm Springs and Chino are definitely worth it. March is as well, but it may be a bit out of your way.

Thanks guys, I'll have a look at all these options and check the logistics.

Never been there, but maybe it's worth a few hours? http://p38assn.org/museum.htm

If you also manage to see the mobile exhibit, could you take a few pictures of the inside? Oh, say about a hundred or so, with macro shots?