Even though most people spend their time by the pool when in Palm Springs, there are a lot of great options in the city to explore like historic houses and fun museums. One example of that is the airplane museum right on the other side of the Palm Springs Airport. This museum is full of beautifully preserved planes, has volunteers that actually flew them to answer your questions, and is overloaded with information for you to learn about the wars and the planes that were a part of them. Here is all the information:
Details
- Cost: $16
- Hours: 10 AM – 5 PM
- Location: 745 N Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs, CA 92262
The Museum
This is one of those museums that would take a long time to try to describe perfectly. While it is not huge, it does have a lot of things to see and a lot of information to take in. Because of that, I will just show you some of my favorites parts in photos and encourage you to take a few hours and walk around the museum and talk to the volunteers yourself. Many of them flew these planes and have a ton of stories that you would never hear or know without spending the time to talk to them.
The museum is broken up into four big hangers, one for Europe, one for the Pacific, one for Korea/Vietnam and one on the B17 plane. Each showcases the unique planes and strategies that were used for the war in those locations. Here are a few pictures:
I also really liked seeing all of the artwork that was painted on the sides of the planes, here a few of them.
Outside of the two hangers there are a whole bunch of planes that you can walk around and see as well, here are a few photos:
One of the things you can see on the outside is an actual cockpit that you can climb up into and explore. I was shocked by how small it was for so many people, as a six-foot-tall man I couldn’t even stand up in the plane cockpit.
Historic Planes Flying
If you are there on select weekends, you may even see them flying one of the old planes. If this is something you want to see I would recommend calling in advance, but last time I was there, they flew one, and it was awesome to watch it take off.
Santa Fly-In
If you are in the area during Christmas time, they have a fantastic thing they do for kids where they have Santa fly in on the plane, and you can watch him land then talk to him.
I happened to be here when this was happening and enjoyed it, be sure to check the dates if you want to see this next year. They also had snow you could play in as well.
All in all, this is a fantastic museum with a lot of awesome stuff to see. I recommend going and exploring it for yourself while in Palm Springs. Let me know if you have been in the comments
