Pima Air & Space Museum facts for kids

Pima Air & Space Museum

The main entrance to the museum
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Established	May 8, 1976; 49 years ago (1976-05-08)
Location	6000 East Valencia Road Tucson, Arizona, United States
Type	Aviation museum

The Pima Air & Space Museum is a huge aerospace museum located in Tucson, Arizona. It is one of the largest air and space museums in the world. The museum has a collection of almost 400 aircraft. These planes are spread across a large 80 acres (32 ha) area. Since 1991, the museum has also been the home of the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame.

What You Can See at the Museum

Many of the museum's airplanes are displayed outside in the Arizona sunshine. Other aircraft are kept inside six large buildings called hangars. These hangars protect the planes from the weather. The museum also has a special restoration hangar where old aircraft are carefully repaired and restored.

The main hangar is full of amazing sights. It features a famous SR-71A Blackbird, a super-fast spy plane. You can also see an A-10 Warthog, a powerful attack jet. An exhibit called Through the Years shows the history of the United States Air Force. There is even a life-sized model of an airport control tower.

The museum is right next to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. This base is home to the world's largest "Boneyard." The Boneyard, officially called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), is a place where thousands of military aircraft are stored.

History of the Museum

The Pima Air & Space Museum first opened on May 8, 1976, with just 48 aircraft. Over the years, it grew much bigger.

• The first hangar was built in 1982.
• A second hangar was added in 1987.
• A third followed in 1992, and a fourth in 1994.

In 2012, the museum started a cool art project called The Boneyard Project. Artists used old, retired airplanes as giant canvases for their artwork.

Recent Additions

The museum continues to add new and exciting aircraft to its collection.

In 2015, the airplane company Boeing donated a special 787 Dreamliner. This plane was the second 787 ever built and was used for flight tests. It is painted in the colors of ANA, a Japanese airline.

In 2016, a unique McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 airplane arrived. This plane had been used as a "Flying Eye Hospital" by a charity called Orbis International. Doctors on the plane performed eye surgeries all over the world.

In 2021, the museum got more land to build the Tucson Military Vehicle Museum. This new museum will display military vehicles like tanks and trucks. Many of these vehicles were donated by the Imperial War Museum in Great Britain.

In May 2025, a giant Martin Mars "flying boat" was brought to the museum. This huge aircraft, designed to land on water, had landed at Lake Pleasant a few months earlier before being taken apart and moved to the museum.

Famous Aircraft on Display

With 400 aircraft, there are many to see. Here are some of the most famous ones:

Note: The B-17G bomber is part of the 390th Memorial Museum, which is located on the same grounds as the Pima Air & Space Museum.

Besides airplanes, the museum also has space artifacts. You can see a trainer that astronauts used for the Space Shuttle's guidance and navigation system. There is also a full-size model of a Solid Rocket Booster.

See also

• List of aerospace museums
• Pinal Airpark