Last updated: 9/13/2012
Seattle, Washington
Address
9404 East Marginal Way South
Seattle, WA 98108
phone: 206-764-5720
web: www.museumofflight.org
contact form: Museum of Flight

Hours

First Thursday of each month: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. (5 p.m.-9 p.m. Free.)
Daily
10 AM - 5 PM
Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

Staff

Douglas King
phone:
e-mail:
Description

The independent, non-profit Museum of Flight is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, attracting more than 400,000 visitors annually. The Museum’s collection includes more than 150 historically significant air- and spacecraft, as well as the Red Barn®—the original manufacturing facility of The Boeing Co. The Museum’s aviation and space library and archives are the largest on the West Coast. More than 100,000 individuals are served annually by the Museum’s on-site and outreach educational programs. The Museum of Flight is accredited by the American Associations of Museums, and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

The Museum of Flight is located South of downtown Seattle, at the south end of Boeing Field / King County Airport; Exit 158 off Interstate 5. Free Parking adjacent to the Museum and Airpark

Mission

The Museum of Flight’s fundamental goals are: to acquire and preserve a wide array of materials and artifacts relating to aviation and space history and to provide a center for the scholarly research of these materials and artifacts. The Museum holds one of the largest and most comprehensive air and space collections in the United States, containing millions of rare photographs and negatives, a world-class library, tens of thousands of artifacts, and over 150 rare aircraft and space vehicles.

Artifact Collections
Aircraft in Our Collection The largest items in The Museum of Flight’s collection are historically significant aircraft. Many of the aircraft are on exhibit at the Museum’s main campus located at Boeing Field in Seattle, WA. Others reside in storage or are undergoing refurbishment at the Museum’s Restoration Center at Paine Field in Everett, WA.
The Museum of Flight’s collection includes a growing collection of spacecraft. Most are currently on exhibit in Space: Exploring the New Frontier at the Museum’s main campus located at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington.
Airline logos: The series of logos were scanned from a collection of 10”x10” vinyl decals that were found here in the Museum years ago. They appear to have come from the Boeing paint shop when they had no more use for them. They were routinely placed on nose of the first model of a particular aircraft to show who the launch customers were.
In addition to aircraft, The Museum of Flight collects and preserves all types of aviation and space artifacts. Some of these are on exhibit, while many more are stored, awaiting research, loan, or future display. All are carefully indexed, photographed, and stored.
Research Collections
Kenneth H. Dahlberg Center for Military Aviation History

Due to construction of the Museum’s new Space Gallery, the Museum’s Library & Archives Building (located across E. Marginal Way S. from the Museum’s main campus) may be closed intermittently to visitors. We will attempt to be open during our normal hours, 1 – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, however please call (206.764.5874) or e-mail (curator@museumofflight.org) in advance to confirm.

Kenneth H. Dahlberg, a World War II fighter ace and member of the American Fighter Aces Association, generously contributed financial assistance to the center’s development. The Center’s military library and archives holds many unique collections including materials from the American Fighter Aces Association, American Volunteer Group, the Champlin Fighter Museum as well as the expansive Norm Taylor and A.J. Bibbee photograph collections.

Library
Flight’s Harl V. Brackin Library

The Museum of Flight’s Harl V. Brackin Library is a popular and useful resource for researchers, aviation enthusiasts, students, model-makers, and authors. The Library contains thousands of books, magazines, and manuals, making it one of the most complete and readily-available aviation and space repositories in the country. Library materials are for reference use and cannot be checked out, duplication equipment is available.

The Library maintains an Aeronautical Library Information system of over 300,000 references that provides access to many of the special information files created by the library. Included are listings of over 80,000 aviation, an inventory of over 2,000 rare pamphlets, references to 14,000 scale aircraft drawings, and a listing of over 3,5000 biographical articles.

Access: General Public, Students, Scholars
Appointment required: No
Services
Gift Shop
Online Gift Shop
Group Tours
Exhibitions
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MUSEUM CONFERENCES

2025 California Association of Museums Conference

February 18 - 22, 2025

San Fransico, California

2025 California Association of Museums Conference

Tuesday, February 18 - Saturday, February 22, 2025

San Fransico, California

Hosted by: California Association of Museums

CAM is hard at work planning for the 2025 conference, set to take place from February 18–22, 2025 in San Francisco. We look forward to highlighting best practices and innovative ideas from California's museum community

The California Association of Museums is excited to continue offering in-person programming for 2025. We will not be requiring proof of COVID vaccination/s, but highly encourage vaccination and boosters. For the health and safety of our colleagues, masks are also encouraged (but not required). Capacity and spaces will be thoughtfully considered in the planning of this event.

For more information, please email programs@calmuseums.org.

Virginia Association of Museum's 2025 Annual Conference!

March 15 - 18, 2025

Blacksburg, Virginia

Virginia Association of Museum's 2025 Annual Conference!

Saturday, March 15 - Tuesday, March 18, 2025

The Inn at Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, Virginia

Hosted by: Virginia Association of Museums

2025 Conference Theme: Looking Back to the Future For the past several years, many museums have been deeply involved in planning programs and events to observe the 250th birthday of the United States of America. While this is certainly an occasion to celebrate, this anniversary also forces us as a society to reckon with ongoing inequities and challenges within the US that go back to its inception. As museums ask their audiences to look to the past to understand the present and shape a better future, perhaps now is a good moment in time for Virginia’s museum community to take pause and look back at its own history. We are excited to see you in Blacksburg in March 2025 as we take a moment in our hectic schedules to take pause and visit our diverse pasts. Let’s uncover and share our histories to build a more resilient Virginia museum community.

2025 Am Assoc for State and Local History Annual Conference

September 10 - 13, 2025

Cincinnati, Ohio

2025 Am Assoc for State and Local History Annual Conference

Wednesday, September 10 - Saturday, September 13, 2025

TBD

Cincinnati, Ohio

Hosted by: American Association for State and Local History

The 2025 AASLH Annual Conference, in partnership with Ohio Local History Alliance, will take place as the history field makes the final preparations to kickoff off the 250th commemoration of the founding of the United States.

The 2025 conference theme, inspired by AASLH’s Making History at 250: The Field Guide for Semiquincentennial, is an opportunity to broadly explore one of the guide’s themes, The American Experiment. For many in the American colonies in 1776, independence from Britain represented a “leap into the dark” into an unknown future

We are excited for you to join us in Cincinnati as we encourage discussion about our democracy and civic institutions and how they can help strengthen understanding, inspire action, and reveal ways that all of us can participate in and shape the ongoing American experiment.

For more information, please call 615-320-3203 or email info@aaslh.org.

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