The Museum of Aviation, on the grounds of Robins Air Force Base, attracts more than half a million visitors each year to its fifty-one-acre site located in Warner Robins, in middle Georgia just ten miles south of Macon. As the second-largest museum affiliated with the U.S. Air Force, the Museum of Aviation offers an excellent overview of the growth and development of the air force dating from World War II (1941-45) to the present. In 1997 the museum received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities.

Display Aircraft

The museum’s programs include static displays of eighty-five aircraft, many as part of interpretive exhibits. Most of the aircraft are stored in a special maintenance facility; many, especially the largest, are located in an outdoor area. A replica of the Epps 1912 Monoplane, designed by Ben Epps, is one such display at the museum. Epps is considered to be the father of aviation in Georgia.

Eagle Building Rotunda
Eagle Building Rotunda

Courtesy of Explore Georgia.

The site contains many historically significant aircraft, some of which are rare or of particular historical significance. These include the SR-71 Blackbird and the U-2, the world’s most important and advanced reconnaissance aircraft; the KC-97 and C-124 Globemaster, huge cold war aircraft; and the mammoth B-52 Stratofortress.

The B-29 Superfortress and the P-51 Mustang are exceptionally important and advanced World War II–era planes, and both have been immaculately restored. An example of the F-80 Shooting Star, F-86 Sabre, and MiG-17, also restored, are among the earliest operational combat-jet aircraft in the world; each saw action in the Korean War in the 1950s.

General Robert L. Scott Jr., a Macon native who wrote God Is My Co-Pilot, was a World War II fighter ace who gained national fame flying with General Claire Chennault’s “Flying Tigers.” The P-40 fighter plane of the type flown by Scott and the Flying Tigers is the centerpiece of an important exhibit charting the role of aviation in the Pacific theater of World War II. The exhibit also tracks Scott’s subsequent career in the U.S. Air Force, which was a branch of the army until it became an independent agency in 1947. Like many in the museum’s hangars, the exhibit includes rare photographs, scale models, interpretive text, audiovisual simulations of combat life and flying, and the flight gear of air force pilots.

Special Exhibits

The museum, in addition to an attractive open grounds area, includes the Eagle Building, housing administrative offices and archives; exhibits focusing on World War II, the Korean War (1950-53), and the development of air force aviation; and a modern F-15 Eagle. The museum also includes a theater that features Smithsonian movies, a café and gift shop, and a viewing area on the third floor.

America’s Black Eagles Exhibit
America’s Black Eagles Exhibit

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

The Century of Flight hangar contains an interactive theater, aircraft displays and exhibits, and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. Hangar One includes an exhibit that traces the history of America’s African American aviators with accompanying text, biographies of significant figures, and aircraft. Charles Dryden, a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, attended the dedication of the exhibit in 1997. Hangar One also contains special exhibitions on the Korean conflict, and rescue helicopter operations. The Scott Exhibit hangar, the newest building, features World War II-era planes and also houses the museum’s restoration projects. 

In 2008 the museum dedicated the Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Memorial, which features a bronze eagle chained to a granite pedestal, to commemorate the thousands of Americans unaccounted for from World War I (1917-18) to the present. And in 2019, the museum unveiled a statue honoring Eugene Bullard, the first African American fighter pilot. 

Education Programs

The Museum of Aviation accommodates field trips and educational programs for young people that are correlated with the Georgia Standards of Excellence. A regional office of the Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers, which provides math and science education for teachers and science programs for young people, is located in the museum. The museum’s National STEM Academy also offers STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject workshops to students and teachers. “Starbase Robins” simulates flight operations that introduce fifth-grade students to science, math, and personal development skills. “Mission Quest” includes a flight simulator that allows middle and high school students to apply math and science principles.

General Robert Scott
General Robert Scott

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

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P-40N

P-40N

The P-40 was the major fighter for the Army Air Corps at the beginning of World War II. The P-40N, the fastest of the series, was the final production version. The aircraft on display was obtained by the Museum of Aviation in 1994 with help from the 653rd Combat Logistics Support Squadron and the Air Force Reserve.

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

Museum of Aviation

Museum of Aviation

The Museum of Aviation covers fifty-one acres and includes open-air displays and hangars. The museum is located on the grounds of Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, ten miles south of Macon.

Courtesy of Museum of Aviation

Eagle Building Rotunda

Eagle Building Rotunda

A TG-4A Glider (right) and a T-6G North American Texan (left) hover over an F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet in the Eagle Building rotunda of the Museum of Aviation.

Courtesy of Explore Georgia, Photograph by Ralph Daniel.

America’s Black Eagles Exhibit

America’s Black Eagles Exhibit

A group of children listen to a lecture about the contribution of Black Americans to the World War II effort at the "America's Black Eagles: The Tuskegee Pioneers . . . and Beyond" Exhibit at the Museum of Aviation.

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

Flight Suit Exhibition

Flight Suit Exhibition

A group of children learn about the suits pilots wear at the Museum of Aviation's Flight Suit Exhibition.

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

General Robert Scott

General Robert Scott

The story of General Robert Scott (right), a famed member of the American Volunteer Group, or the "Flying Tigers," is part of an exhibition on World War II at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins. Scott was involved extensively in the museum's development and served as a museum docent from the mid-1980s until his death in 2006.

Courtesy of the Museum of Aviation

Convair F-102 “Delta Dagger”

Convair F-102 “Delta Dagger”

The Convair F-102 "Delta Dagger" was the U.S. Air Force's first delta-winged jet and supersonic all-weather interceptor. The experimental version of the aircraft flew in 1953, and it went into service with the air force's Air Defense Command in 1956. The Delta Dagger's maximum speed was 810 miles per hour.

Image from Alan Wilson

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McDonnell F-101 “Voodoo”

McDonnell F-101 “Voodoo”

The McDonnell F-101 "Voodoo" made its initial flight in 1954. The U.S. Air Force developed several versions of the Voodoo: a single seat, low-altitude fighter-bomber; a single-seat reconnaissance version; and a two-seat fighter-interceptor version that served in the Air Defense Command. The maximum speed of the Voodoo was 1,095 miles per hour.

Image from Robert Karma

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Boeing B-29 “Superfortress”

Boeing B-29 “Superfortress”

The Boeing B-29 "Superfortress," first test flown in 1943, was the most advanced heavy bomber of World War II. Its powerful engines and pressurized cabin allowed the B-29 to fly higher, faster, and with a larger bomb-carrying capacity than any other airplane in its day. It served primarily in the Pacific theater of World War II and later in the Korean War.

Image from Alan Wilson

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Douglas C-124 “Globemaster II”

Douglas C-124 “Globemaster II”

The Douglas C-124 "Globemaster II" first flew in 1949. Deliveries to the U.S. Air Force began the following year. A four-engine troop and cargo carrier, the Globemaster's clamshell nose accommodated tanks, jeeps, and other vehicles.

Image from Eric Friedebach

Lockheed AC-130 “Spectre”

Lockheed AC-130 “Spectre”

The Lockheed AC-130 "Spectre" is an attack gunship version of the C-130 cargo and troop carrier. The Spectre has side-firing guns and advanced avionics that allow it to loiter over targets in any weather and time of day. 

Image from Gary Todd

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Color photograph of Eugene Bullard Statue at Robins Air Force Base

Eugene Bullard Statue

On October 9, 2019, a statue honoring Eugene Bullard—the world's first Black fighter pilot—was unveiled at the Museum of Aviation, on the grounds of Robins Air Force Base. 

Photograph by Captain Edner J. Julian, U.S. Army National Guard