Visiting airforce museums in California. Advice?

Posted by CrestfallenSpartan@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 24 comments

Me and my wife are going on holidays to California in May. I read about Edwards Flight &Test museum in Palmdale and seems like they got a huge collection of awesome aircraft. But seems like most of it is only open for military personal. Is that correct? There is the Blackbird park which is open for public with some other cool stuff near it (Joe Davis hetitage. But im not sure about the Flight&Test museum. It seems theyre both located at the Palmdale regional airport so military acces wouldnt make sense to me, and Edwards afb is outside the city. Is that correct?

Were coming from the Netherlands so sorry if this sounds stupid

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Oblivious_Regret1984@reddit

Not sure if Chino is still open to the public, but they have/had a worthy collection.

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sdgunz@reddit

There's 2 good sized museums at Chino airport. One is focused on keeping the aircraft airworthy if a recall correctly.

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lurking-constantly@reddit

Palm Springs Air Museum is excellent, and has an F117 nighthawk. They also offer rides in their warbird fleet (for a pretty penny). Right on the field too.

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

Ill post some photos here when we visit 😄

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

Thanks!

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Dinkerdoo@reddit

You might consider the Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park, San Diego if you'll be starting in Southern CA.

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JustHereForTheFun_@reddit

Was stationed at Edward's for 8 years. Unless you have a military person in your vehicle, you aren't getting past the gate guard. The gate shack is actually like 20 miles west of the freeway so save yourself the 40 mile round-trip back to Hwy 14. That museum is awesome, one of the best, but it's tough to see if you aren't connected somehow.

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BanMeForBeingNice@reddit

March ARB has an excellent museum. It's located near Perris, California. If you like vintage cars, the Motte Museum in Perris is cool too.

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GlumTelephone8409@reddit

It is correct, you need security clearance to visit afb test flight museum. There are some planes displayed outside in palmdale, im sure its worth the visit though but i havent been.

California science center has a limited but beautiful collection, including the sr71 training plane (i dont recall the name sorry) and endeavour which is on its own worth the visit imo

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K_Sqrd@reddit

Not quite correct. A security clearance isn't required. But you do need to have valid DoD access (CAC or dependent ID) - which is different. And my guess is that unlike some installations, visitor passes are not issued due to the nature of the work being conducted at EAFB.

Effectively the same thing though when you're on the outside looking in.

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

But the Flight &test museum isnt on the Airforce base itself right? The museum is near the public airport if im correct and the Air Base is outside the city.

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K_Sqrd@reddit

Correct - the flight test museum is on base. Which is why I made the comment earlier clarifying 'needing a security clearance' vs 'need base access'. They are different. But to somebody with neither they might as well be the same.

I can't comment on the public museum near the airport. I'm not even sure what 'city' is being referred to here. LA? Palmdale? Any of the other 'pop-up' towns around EAFB? But if it's not actually ON EAFB you should be good to go to visit.

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

If i do visit ill post it here

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

Thanks

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matsutaketea@reddit

endeavor is in plastic wrap still I think. they are in the middle of building a structure around it

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CrestfallenSpartan@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the response. Is there a way to get clearance (requesting it) or is it simply impossible?

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faster_tomcat@reddit

Don't plan on it. You kind of need an invite from someone on base, preferably the commander. If you don't know how to get this invite, then you're not going on base to the museum.

If you do figure it out please share because I'd like to go too.

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GlumTelephone8409@reddit

I dont know im a foreigner and i just showed up at the door and got declined entrance. I understood that if you got to know someone working there you could easily get in

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