The main entrance to the museum | |
| Established | May 8, 1976; 49 years ago (1976-05-08) |
|---|---|
| Location | 6000 East Valencia Road Tucson,Arizona,United States |
| Coordinates | 32°08′20.2″N110°52′07.3″W / 32.138944°N 110.868694°W /32.138944; -110.868694 |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Director | Scott Marchand |
| Website | pimaair |
ThePima Air & Space Museum is anaerospace museum inTucson,Arizona, US. It features a display of nearly 400 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (32 ha) on a campus occupying 127 acres (51 ha). It has also been the home to theArizona Aviation Hall of Fame since 1991.
A large number of the museum's aircraft are displayed outside with the remainder located in one of the museum's six display hangars.[1] In addition to the display hangars, the museum has a restoration hangar.[2]
Opened to the public in May 1976 with 48aircraft then on display, the museum's main hangar houses anSR-71A Blackbird, anA-10 Warthog, aUnited States Air ForceThrough the Years exhibit, and a mock-up of a control tower.
The museum is adjacent toDavis-Monthan Air Force Base. The309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), affiliated with the base, also known as the "Graveyard of Planes" or "The Boneyard", is the largestaircraft storage and preservation facility in the world.[3]
The museum opened to the public on May 8, 1976. In early 1982 the first hangar on the site was completed. A second was built in 1987, a third in 1992, and a fourth in 1994.[1] After running into difficulty in the late 1990s, the museum recovered and continued expanding.[4]
In 2012, the museum collaborated with artists, inThe Boneyard Project, to place some abandoned aircraft on display as canvases for art.[5][6]
During 2015,Boeing donated to the museum a flight test787 aircraft which is the second built. It is exhibited in the colors of the 787 customer,ANA.[7]
In November 2016,Orbis International donated their firstMcDonnell-Douglas DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital to the museum, after receiving a second DC-10 from FedEx. The DC-10, which was the oldest flying example of its type and at the time of its donation, while being the oldest surviving example and the second overall built, was restored for display atDavis–Monthan Air Force Base.[8]
The museum acquired 77 acres (31 ha) in January 2021 for the construction of theTucson Military Vehicle Museum. The new museum will house a large number of mostly land vehicles, including 50 donated by theImperial War Museum.[9]
A disassembledMartin Mars arrived at the museum in May 2025, having landed atLake Pleasant three months earlier.[10]
Out of a collection of 400 aircraft, these are the most prominent:[1]
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† B-17G serial number 44-85828 is on display at the 390th Memorial Museum,[17] co-located on the grounds of the Pima Air & Space Museum.[18]
In addition to other ephemera, the museum contains theShuttle Mission Simulator's GNS (Guidance and Navigation Simulator) trainer, and a full-size mockup of theSolid Rocket Booster.[19][20]