Pima Air and Space Museum
The Pima Air and Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is the massive (in both stature and popularity) museum that is considered to be one of the world’s largest non-government funded aerospace museums, holding over 300 different aircraft in over 80 acres of land. The entire museum campus is actually 127 acres with every hangar and workspace counted, this Valencia Road museum resident bringing in hundreds of thousands of curious guests each year. Pima was founded in 1976, providing guests with views of military and historic aircraft they may have never gotten the chance to see before. Guests of this museum may take docent-led tours of the hangars, walking tours of the museum interior, or even Tram Tours of the entire campus if you really want to see it all. There are also exclusive bus tours that take you to a 2,600 acre ‘Aircraft Boneyard’, a spot with over 45 military and government aircraft being stored (The Dow's Monthan Air Force Base).
Besides what has already been mentioned, you will see the Main Hangars, Space Gallery, 390th Memorial Museum, WWII Hangar, and several outdoor planes. See a Wright Flyer or 787 Dreamliner within the 5 indoor exhibit hangars, or perhaps see if any special events are taking place while you are here. If you look around hard enough, you will easily see President Kennedy’s Air Force One, the iconic SV2-71 Blackbird, or even a German V-7 Buzz Bomb. Your group can enter a Great Paper Airplane Flyover challenge, or perhaps stay after dark for Night Wings or Night of Fright. There are Sarin’ Saturday family events, educational workshops resources for student groups, and even special lecture series here every now and then. If you are with a student group and you would like to prep educationally beforehand, be sure to look on their website and take a fully immersive panoramic tour of the hangar/planes you will be learning about, it will really help! Also, be sure to take full advantage of the group discounts when you come!
