San Diego Air & Space Museum


The San Diego Air & Space Museum is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places. The museum was established by articles of incorporation on October 12, 1961, and opened to the public on February 15, 1963.
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History

The museum was established on October 12, 1961, as the San Diego Aerospace Museum. The museum was first opened to the public on February 15, 1963, in the Food and Beverage Building, which had been built in 1915 for the Panama–California Exposition. In 1965 the museum was moved to the larger Electrical Building.
On February 22, 1978, the Electrical Building and the museum were destroyed in an arson fire. Several one-of-a-kind aircraft were destroyed, including the Beecraft Wee Bee, the world's lightest aircraft, and her sister's craft the Queen Bee. A reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis, built-in 1967 by some of the same people who built the original, was also destroyed, along with more than 50 other aircraft, an extensive collection of artifacts and archives, and the International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Owen Clarke, the museum's executive director, said of the $4 million in losses, "This is unbelievably tragic. When you've spent that length of time acquiring history, building something up to where it had international prestige, then see it all disappear in a couple of hours, what else can it be?"
Before the fire, plans had already been underway to move the museum to the larger Ford Building, also in Balboa Park, which had been built for the 1935–36 California Pacific International Exposition. Even though several important historic aircraft were lost in the fire, much of the collection on display was dated or insignificant. The museum was already accumulating new aircraft that were in storage awaiting space in the new building and so was spared from the fire. In addition, the community rallied, raising funds and donating items from private collections. The museum reopened, with a smaller but growing collection, in its current home in the former Ford Building on June 28, 1980. A new reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis was built for the new museum. Because of its historical significance, a reproduction of the Wee Bee was also built.
In 2005, the museum became affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. It is one of only ten aerospace museums in the country to have such an affiliation and one of only two affiliated museums in San Diego.

Exhibits

The museum is divided into many galleries with exhibits emphasizing the contributions San Diego has made to aviation. Sections include the Theodore Gildred Rotunda, Special Exhibit area, World War I Gallery, Golden Age of Flight Gallery, World War II Gallery, Modern Jet & Space Age Gallery, and the Edwin D. McKellar Pavilion of Flight. Admission is required and there is an additional cost to see the Special Exhibit.
The restoration shop on site is available for tours when work is being done.

Theodore Gildred Rotunda

In addition to the Apollo 9 Command Module Gumdrop, the main entrance to the museum contains examples of aircraft from local San Diego companies. It also features the different types of exhibits throughout the museum. This includes originals, like the Montgomery 1911 Evergreen glider, models, like the 1/2 scale model of the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk, flyable reproductions, like the Curtiss A-1 Triad amphibious aircraft, replicas, like the Ryan Airlines NYP.

Special exhibits

In addition to the changing special exhibits at the front of the museum, there are several early aviation exhibits hanging from the ceiling. Visitors are encouraged to look up while making their way through the special exhibit. Guests who do not pay to see the special exhibit pass through the International Air & Space Hall of Fame hallway, where portraits of aviation pioneers are displayed. Also along this hallway are exhibits about Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran and the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Hanging above this area are exhibits of the Leonardo da Vinci Ornithopter, Cayley Glider, Lilienthal Glider, Chanute Glider, 1901 Wright Glider, 1902 Wright Glider, Deperdussin 1911 Type Militaire, Beachey "Little Looper", and the Vin Fiz Flyer.
The San Diego Air and Space Museum is currently showcasing an interactive exhibition dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci’s groundbreaking inventions. The display features some of his most notable creations, including various flying machines, a life-sized hang glider, and Da Vinci’s own notes detailing his inventive process. Running through January 4, 2026, at 2001 Pan America Plaza, the exhibition aims to shed light on the often-overlooked story of Da Vinci's attempt at flight in 1506. His inventions were remarkably ahead of their time, introducing concepts like “wing warping,” a technology later attributed to the Wright brothers. Da Vinci’s extensive knowledge and visionary ideas anticipated many modern advancements, such as drones, parachutes, and helicopters.
The museum also has the California lunar sample displays.

Edwin D. McKellar Pavilion of Flight

The original courtyard of the Ford Building was used as a showroom during the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. Now, it houses many of the larger aircraft in the museum's collection. These aircraft include the Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Bell AH-1E Cobra, and Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor. It also includes a replica of the Beecraft Wee Bee several racing aircraft, and two Ford cars on loan from the San Diego Automotive Museum.
The McDonnell Douglas F-4J/S Phantom II on display in the pavilion was the aircraft flown by Duke Cunningham and William P. Driscoll in Vietnam from the USS Constellation (CV-64). Cunningham was the first ace to get all of his kills with missiles. The aircraft here has both radar guided Sparrow missiles along the belly and infrared heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles loaded on the wings.
The museum also rents the pavilion for special events, from lectures to dinners. Upon request, volunteer museum docents can be available to provide additional information about the exhibits during these events.

Front of museum

On display outside the museum are a Lockheed A-12 and a Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart.

Gillespie Field Annex

In addition to the main facility at Balboa Park, the museum also has an annex at Gillespie Field, El Cajon. The Annex featured additional display space for more aircraft and restoration facilities. Some of the featured aircraft and spacecraft here include:
An F-14 Tomcat from the annex would be used in ground scenes during the filming of Top Gun: Maverick.

Collection

It contains many original and reproductions of historic aircraft and spacecraft, including:
SDASM promotes itself as one of the largest aviation museums in the nation, containing the third-largest collection of archives and library. SDASM has two restoration facilities, one on site, and the other located at Gillespie Field. The Gillespie Field Annex is open to the public with numerous aircraft on display outdoors, a Convair SM-65 Atlas ICBM, museum model shop, and a restoration shop. The museum's library contains an extensive collection of aircraft books and historic photographs of aircraft and aircraft manufacturing.

Special events

The museum hosts a number of lectures, student programs, and other special events. Groups can rent the Pavilion of Flight for their own event or dinner.