Tennessee Museum of Aviation

Warbird Collection

The Tennessee Museum of Aviation strives to give an overall view of the people and places in aviation history that occured in and around Tennessee.  This includes not only the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame but also exhibits of physical artifacts from the various time periods in aviation history.  Included with the price of admission is the hangar that is full of planes, located right past the exhibit hall.  And these planes are not just models or pieces of planes, these are fully functional planes that are even flown on occasion, to the delight of visitors and locals alike.

The exhibit hall is the first thing that you get to explore at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation.  The quality of the exhibits is second to none.  The pieces they have collected and that have been donated over the years, show an amazing attention to detail and a love for the science of aviation.  One of the features, of course, is the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame.  The inductees are pictured as well as an explanation of the reasoning behind their induction.  Included in the ranks of the inducted are such aviation legends as aeronautics pioneer Edward Chalmers Huffaker and Evelyn “Mama Bird” Bryan Johnson – a flight instructor with over 57,000 hours of flight time.

The other pieces of the exhibit include both military and civilian items that are tied to the aviation history of Tennessee.  Again, the exhibits are of the top most quality.  They have double and triple checked their facts and the displays are given plenty of attention so that the public can learn more about the diverse history of flight and flying from a state perspective.

The planes in the hangar do change occasionally but here is a partial list of some that you might get to see:

• Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
• Douglas A-1H Skyraider
• North American T-38 Trojan
• MiG 21
• MiG 17
• North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco
• Beechcraft SNB
• T-33
• 1902 Wright Glider (full scale replica)
• Bell 222 Airwolf (full scale replica)