Palm Springs Air Museum

So worth the admission fee. There’s so many volunteers eager to share there knowledge that it’s like getting a private tour. Our docent, Bob Sylvester was very knowledgable and made the B-​17 tour so interesting. Definitely worth coming to again.

My husband and I took a day trip to Palm Springs for our anniversary this year. Our dinner reservation was for 5PM so we had free time in the afternoon. We decided to check out the Palm Springs Air Museum. The museum itself was easy to find as they are by Palm Springs International Airport on Gene Autry Trail. Parking is free here.
ADMISSION: It’s free for active military and their immediate family as well as children under 5 years old. General Admission is $ 16 per person and discounted prices for seniors, retired military, and children ages 6 – 17. They also offer group rates.
There were exhibits from WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Many of the aircraft are in flyable condition which is amazing to me. Most of the docents are veterans and have a wealth of stories to tell. My husband actually works in the aerospace industry so of course he was checking out the engines. There are also aircraft outside and you can even go inside a couple of them which is a cool experience. I didn’t realize the spaces were so tiny.
The museum itself can be used to host special & private events as well (even weddings). They were actually setting up for a private event the day we came.
Overall, both my husband and I thought it was worth the trip here.
⁵⁶⁄₁₀₀ Reviews for 2016

Planes planes and more planes. I love airplanes and this place was on point (or on fleek as my daughter says). The volunteers were amazing and the planes looked great. I am comparing it to other museums and I have to say, this one is great but I felt it lacked a little bit. It does not pose itself as a WWII only museum but it pretty much is. But then they have a few odd ball planes that don’t fit the age zone!
Anyhow, compared to some other air museums, they did not have the amount of planes I expected and to climb in one or tour the B-​17, you had to pay an extra $ 5 each. I did enjoy the cockpit you can climb in just outside the hangers. My youngest daughter and I had a blast in there (she is an «air“head like me!). The flight simulators upstairs are interesting but dated.
I would probably come back but I was hoping on spending half a day here after paying almost $ 40 to get in (family of four) but we were done in just over an hour and most of that time was us waiting on my wife who reads every little thing put out!
I recommend checking it out but curb your expectations.

Came here today with my mom, my dad and my son
My son and dad are air plane fanatics so by seeing them I had even more enjoyable experience. We enjoyed everything about the museum. So much history and me and my mom enjoyed seeing the history of not just the Tuskegee pilots but the women in history that flew planes. They had alot of planes and WW2 pilots. My dad loved meeting them. I recommend this museum to everyone. Dare I say it’s better then the airplane museum in Chino Hills. Lol
I would definitely come back.

I liked this place very much. Glad to have this to show my kid.
Please go visit…

Wonderful museum with a lot of commentary on the World Wars and the Japanese/​Chinese wars. Great to learn about the history esp if you’re not too clear on chain of events. Only gripe is that we had a discount coupon but the guy didn’t give us the discount though he took our coupon. We didn’t go back to argue because we figured it was money given to a good cause in keeping the museum in operation.

Top notch. Actually get to touch and feel, lots of amazing volunteers that lived it. Ours kids will be discussing this for years to come.

this place is awesome. For my birthday I went there with family and was AVG flying tiger reunion! Pappy Boyington widow and daughters were there andthis was the perfect venue! Mr Pond the owner made his fortune making zamboni machines and was located in Minneapolis before relocation. Even the exterior trim of building is aviation
dad was ww2 USN pilot and so my personal favorites are plane types he
has number of aircraft that fly on specific dates like at Chino Air museum which are announced on line. give yourself enough time like 5 hours so you don’t miss anything!

I like the Air museum, specially the WWII planes, the volunteers are nice, I recommend the museum to all the families, and the younger generation. Very nice place to walk and be with the family and learn about history.

Nice place to see older planes, most are from WW2 and some from Vietnam War. Takes about 2 hours to see everything. Good for kids and the volunteers working are very friendly and explain a lot of the history. Small but nice gift shop also.
A little bit pricey for this size museum ($ 16 for adults), but active military are free and vets get a discount also. OK if you have time but it is expensive for the size of museum (would be 5 star if it was around $ 10 for admission).

Excellent small air museum. Lots of docents around to answer questions. Can see must of it in a few hours. Beautiful setting near the airport with the mountains in the distance.

Was in Palm Springs this past mid November and decided, on my last day, to check out the museum. What a nice find! The people there are very knowledgable and friendly. A lot of history regarding airplanes and the wars of which they were a part. You can even go up inside of a bomber and get a real feel for what it was like in WWIII being a part of the flight crew of one of these! I only would have liked to have been advised that they close at 5:00 PM when I went and paid the admission fee at about 4:10 PM. You definitely need more than 50 minuted to view and experience this place and its exhibits. But, I probably will go back to resume my visit with enough time my next trip to Palm Springs!

WOW!!! Best Air Museum I’ve been Too! And I’ve been to a few! My Family Arrived and we were greeted by friendly staff. There was an Airshow at the time going on next door so we got a chance to see a lot of the aircraft I. Action! Upstairs, in the library, the personnel was absolutely wonderful with my kids, as he taught my 4 year old child how to fly on the flight simulator machine, and also taught me a few facts as well! This place is definitely worth the trip!

This place is just really cool. I’ve recently become interested in American aviation history and aviation history in general. This place is worth a visit if you have any interest at all. The docents amd volunteer staff are awesome.
This place has some cool stuff for sure. The B-​17, one of 10 still air worthy out of almost 13 000 is in great condition and one of the highlights. You can inspect almost every aspect of this aircraft. I learned all about it. I’m not I pilot but I play one sometime in the office. I’m more interested in how things work, the experience that people have collected and they way improvements happen. Only with experience can we move forward and male things better.
From the first commercial airliners to more recent fighter jets this place had some amazing aeronautical specimens.
Upstairs they have a deep library with video and literature. They also have a bunch of basic simulation computers. I wish I had some time to play with those, maybe next time.
I really love that the people who work here are as passionate as they are.
Awesome place to visit for a few hours.

Went here on my first trip to Palm Springs. I’m a huge engineering nerd and I had this opportunity to be up close to these amazing machines. So many different planes from different eras. It’s amazing, even early turbocharged planes. I’ve always wanted to see these old compressor wheels in person.
Super knowledgeable and friendly docents will literally answer questions to the exhaustion of their impressive knowledge. I bugged them with childlike enthusiasm about the technologies present in these machines and they answered every question patiently and with as much information as possible. It was an amazing day.

This place is amazing! WAY more than you expect before you go in. So many planes to look at and walk through separated by time period. The side exhibits are great too. Photos, artifacts, models, videos. Lots to see here. There is even a children’s area that my kids loved. An old fire truck, some airplanes and control tower to climb in plus some other activities. You can climb in some of the planes inside and outside.
I think my favorite part was all the volunteers around to talk to you about everything. I love a place with volunteers like this that are honestly passionate and excited about what they have to share. There’s even a wall of photos of many of them «then» and «now»… pretty darn cool.
Active duty military (and family) was free here… SO nice! So we made a nice donation and bought some cool stuff.
We only came here because the aerial tram was down for maintenance, but buy are we glad it was! This truly is an impressive place!

After spending a weekend in Palm Springs, hubby and I wanted to stop by here on our way home.
They are open 7 days a week, 10:00a to 5:00p (except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the second Friday in February). Adults are $ 16, youth (13 – 17) $ 14, children (6 – 12) $ 9, and children 5 and under are free. Seniors and retired military with I.D. are $ 14, active military with I.D. and their immediate family are free. We got the family pack, which is a great deal for $ 32 (or $ 40, depending on the age of your kids).
The floor plan was simple, with 2 main hangars and an open area (ramp) in between. The Pond Hangar was on the left of the lobby, and the Cravens Hangar on the right. There was also a small café and a children’s education center located in another hangar, the Phillips Hangar, that’s connected to the Cravens Hangar.
I’m not a military history buff, but all I can say is WOW. To be able to see and touch these aircrafts that were actually used during the war was amazing. The fact that I could still smell the oil inside made it very real too. There were well over 30 aircrafts, mostly from WWII, but also some from the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
We also got to see their current exhibits, World War II Portrait Journey (runs through May) and Manzanar: Wartime Photos by Ansel Adams (ends May 3^rd). If I remember correctly, the Portrait Journey was in the Cravens Hangar and Manzanar was in the Pond Hangar.
In addition to the aircrafts, there were a lot of pictures, literature/​notes, models, and such that guided us through wartime history. Seeing everything in person seemed to help my kids understand our past better than reading a textbook. I just hope that they will remember at least some of what they learned so that they can appreciate what they have now (but considering their ages, that may take a while).

Second time here. Awesome. Great for families. To see this place completely, it will take you a few trips. has one of the best world war II air museums in the country (maybe even the world). The volunteers (all senior citizens) are all so great. Very friendly and informative.
I didn’t even know from my last trip that there is a library, flight simulator, archive room upstairs. after we were ready to leave we went up and spent another hour up there.
if you are doing any research, this is the place.
The B-​17 was absolutely awesome. The planes that you can walk into (and sit at cockpit, was amazing.
Surprisingly the little kids have a blast. Not surprising once you go in there though. There is a lot for them to see and touch and climb into.

Palm Springs Air Museum, February 14, 2015
That’s right, it’s Valentine’s Day and I’m heading, with my wife, to the Palm Springs Air Museum. It’s at the Palm Springs Airport, and Air Force One, with President Obama landed a couple of hours before we got there. If you looked hard you could see it across the airport, but there was so much to see right where I was. This museum includes planes from a wide spectrum of American military history, and it doesn’t stop there, as they’ve also got a mig.
It was like I was 12 and arriving at Disneyland for the first time. I almost ran around the place checking it all out. I took a bunch of pictures and I marveled at the sheer size of the planes that I had only seen on TV or the big screen before.
The sixteen dollars I spent was well spent, and the three hours that I was there were well worth the investment. Heck, I even got to have my picture taken with an astronaut (Wendy Lawrence), who was a guest speaker on this particular day. We had no idea that she’d be there, and so we were very lucky. They have an event schedule, and so I plan to check that out next time we’re in the neighborhood, as the astronauts are not there every Saturday.
If you’re into military air history, this is a must see. If you’re sort of interested, you’ll find it enjoyable. It’s a five star stop for me.

These days our house has been inundated by aircraft. Models to be exact. My better half has become obsessed with building them. And my grandson, little Drew, is obsessed with playing with them. And as Mr. B becomes more obsessed, his OCD has kicked into new gears… making sure they look dusty, worn, and authentic. Thankfully, I can provide the dust, no problem. And Drew provides the dents and sound effects.
Hence, Mr. B has twisted my arm more than once to go to air museums for that vis-​à-​vis opportunity. You will find several in my long list of reviews. And so when I saw a recent Groupon for this one (this one does not expire for one whole year), only an hour’s drive from home, I did not hesitate. Palm Springs, early autumn, is not a half bad place to stomp around, even stay for a night or two. And I can get a great meal out of it too if I «Yelp» around correctly. That’s another review.
Nicely displayed, with plenty of «up close» opportunities, the museum is well worth a visit. There are two sides to this primarily WWII aircraft museum, one side for the European conflict, one for the Pacific, with some Vietnam era artifacts as well. And more parked outside on the tarmac. There are always a few being worked on, restored, and hopefully functioning once they return.
The docents are tremendous. While there are very few WWII vets left, the post war aged docents are friendly, experienced military pilots and personnel, well read, and eager to share facts and history. They know their aircraft intimately.
You can also enjoy many different war videos in a sit down theatre where you can catch an admirable list of longer documentaries. And plenty of interactive opportunities for the kids.
Saturdays are set aside as a special day for air flights, you can even pay for a ride in one of their select planes.
There is a small snack shop inside, if you find yourself needing a sandwich, salad or drink.