In mid-1988, an F-4 was flown to the airport as a sling load underneath a helicopter and was placed on display a few months later.[2][3]
Establishment
The museum's 3,168 sq ft (294.3 m2) building was dedicated on 11 November 1992.[4][5] The restoration of the former base chapel, renamed the Lewellen Memorial Chapel, was completed in 1998.[6] It opened a new exhibit called A Century of Flight in 2003 featuring a 1:4 scale replica of the Wright Flyer.[7]
The museum broke ground on the Bruce Dalton Media Center, the first half of a two part expansion, in July 2009.[8][9] It began construction of a second, 3,700 sq ft (340 m2) addition in July 2013.[10] The addition opened in April 2014 along with a new barracks exhibit.[11][12] Then, in 2017, it announced plans for an 1,800 sq ft (170 m2) expansion to store artifacts and serve as a restoration shop.[12] The Thomas Vickers/John C. Walter Artifacts & Restoration Center was dedicated in June 2018.[13]
The museum acquired a C-119 from Greybull, Wyoming and began disassembling it in 2019.[14] The last parts arrived in July of the following year and it was placed on display in May 2021.[15][16]