Air Force Armament Museum

The Air Force Armament Museum is a military aviation museum adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida, dedicated to the display of Air Force armament. It is supported by the private, non-profit Air Force Armament Museum Foundation.

Air Force Armament Museum

GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast weapon on display in front of the museum
Location within Florida
Established	1975 (1975)
Location	Eglin Air Force Base, Valparaiso, Florida
Coordinates	30.46625°N 86.56154°W / 30.46625; -86.56154
Type	Military aviation museum
Website	www.afarmamentmuseum.com

History

The museum opened to the public on 22 June 1974 in a converted 1940s era chapel.^[1][2] Two years later, the Air Force Armament Museum Foundation was established with the goal of constructing a new building.^[3] The foundation faced significant public opposition in its early years driven by a referendum to appropriate county funding for the new building.^[4] After the referendum failed, the original building was condemned and the museum was forced to close in 1981.^[5][6]

A new 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m²) square foot building located outside the base's west gate was eventually funded entirely through private donations.^[7][6] The new museum building opened on 15 November 1985.^[8] Shortly thereafter, an exhibit on prisoners of war was inaugurated.^[9] Starting in 1990, a number of aircraft were received in quick succession, with an SR-71 arriving that year, a B-52 in 1991, and a MiG-21 in 1992.^[10][11][12] An exhibit about Air Force Special Operations Command was dedicated in 1996.^[13]

By 2007, the museum began raising funds for an educational annex.^[14] In 2019 and 2020, a P-51 and F-86 respectively were experimentally wrapped in vinyl.^[15][16] Following decades of planning, an African American Military Heritage Hall – the first of four Quonset hut styled structures – opened to the public in February 2022.^[17][18][19] The B-52 on display was repainted the following April.^[20] A new visitor control center for the base was opened on the museum grounds in May 2024.^[21]

Exhibits

A wide variety of bombs, missiles, and rockets are exhibited, including the newest air-to-air missile, the AMRAAM, and the GBU-28 bunker-buster developed for use during Operation Desert Storm. Other missiles include the Paveway series, Falcons, the Tomahawk, Mace, Hound Dog, radar-controlled, laser-controlled and several guided by a TV camera in the nose. Also on display is the GBU-43 MOAB, Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or by its nickname, "Mother of All Bombs", the world's largest conventional explosive weapon. A predecessor, the T-12 Cloudmaker 38,600 lb (17,500 kg) earthquake bomb, is displayed outside, while a Fat Man casing is indoors.^[22] In addition, a BLU-82B was acquired in 2019.^[23]

A gun vault displays a variety of weapons ranging from a 1903 Springfield rifle to the GAU-8, which is capable of shooting 6,000 rounds per minute. Featured are the Sikes Antique Pistol Collection, with over 180 handguns, including flintlocks, duelling pistols, Western six-shooters, Civil War pistols, and a wide variety of early military weaponry.^{[24][failed verification]}

Programs

The museum hosts the Engineers for America education program, which involves a school classroom tour of the museum with basic engineering experiments led by teachers and volunteers.^[25][26][27]

Collection

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak

Aircraft on display

• Bell UH-1M Iroquois 66-15186^[28]
• Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 44-83863^[29]
• Boeing B-52G Stratofortress 58-0185, "El Lobo II"^[30][31][32]
• Boeing RB-47H Stratojet 53-4296^[33]
• Cavalier F-51D Mustang 68-15796^[34]
• Cessna O-2A Skymaster 68-6864^[35]
• Douglas TC-47B Skytrain 44-76486^[36]
• Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II 75-0288^[37]
• General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon 80-0573^[38]
• General Dynamics F-111E Aardvark 68-0058^[39]
• Lockheed AC-130A Spectre 53-3129^[40]
• Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star 49-0432^[41]
• Lockheed F-104D Starfighter 57-1331^[42]
• Lockheed MQM-105 Aquila – mock-up^{[citation needed]}
• Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird 61-7959^[43]
• Lockheed T-33A 53-5947^[44]
• Martin EB-57B Canberra 52-1516^[45]
• McDonnell F-4C Phantom II 64-0817^[46]
• McDonnell JF-101B Voodoo 56-0250^[47]
• McDonnell RF-4C Phantom II 67-0452^[48]
• McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle 74-0124^[49]
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13 14^[50]
• North American F-86F Sabre 52-5513^[51]
• North American F-100C Super Sabre 54-1986^[52]
• North American TB-25J Mitchell 44-30854^[53]
• Northrop F-89D Scorpion 53-2610^[54]
• Republic F-84F Thunderjet 51-9495^[55]
• Republic F-105D Thunderchief 58-1155^[56]
• Republic P-47N Thunderbolt 44-89320^[57]
• Ryan BQM-34A Firebee^{[citation needed]}
• Ryan BQM-34F Firebee 70-1410^{[citation needed]}
• Sikorsky MH-53M Pave Low IV 73-1652^[58][59][60]

Missiles on display

• General Dynamics BGM-109A Tomahawk^[61]
• Martin CGM-13 Mace 59-4860^[62]
• North American AGM-28 Hound Dog 59-2794^{[citation needed]}
• Republic-Ford JB-2 – on loan from the National Air and Space Museum^{[citation needed]}