Shea Naval Aviation Museum


The Shea Naval Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located in Weymouth, Massachusetts focused on the history of Naval Air Station South Weymouth and Naval Air Station Squantum.

History

After Naval Air Station South Weymouth closed in 1997, the Patriot Squadron of the Association of Naval Aviation created a historical society to establish a museum. That year the group dedicated the Shea Memorial Grove, named after Lieutenant Commander John J. Shea, consisting of a park with a Douglas A-4B Skyhawk mounted on a pedestal. The museum restored the airplane four years later.
In October 2011, after previously requiring appointments scheduled in advance, it opened to the general public once a month in former base gymnasium, the Shea Fitness Center. The museum installed 100 memorial bricks in the grove in October 2013. In 2015, it was given a documentary about the history of the base by the organization redeveloping the former base. However, in 2017 it was forced to leave the building so that it could be renovated.

Exhibits

Exhibits at the museum included a sensor operator’s station from a P-3 and an instrument panel from an A-4.

Collection