Reviewing the best military history exhibitions, with Marc DeSantis
N ew York State’s Long Island was an important centre for the United States’ aircraft production bonanza during the Second World War, with about one in every seven American airplanes built there. The Grumman Engineering Corporation was the source of thousands of F4F Wildcats, F6F Hellcats, and TBF Avengers for the US Navy, while Republic Aviation Corporation manufactured thousands of P-47 Thunderbolt fighters for the United States Army Air Forces.
Located on Long Island in Farmingdale, about an hour’s drive east of Manhattan, on the former grounds of Republic’s production plant, the American Airpower Museum (AAM), is a repository of fascinating examples of vintage warbirds, as well as more modern machines.
Occupying a large hangar on the edge of Republic Airport, AAM stands apart from most other air and space museums on account of the number of flyable aircraft in its collection. With a runway situated nearby, the museum is perfectly suited to allow its machines to take to the skies. It is well worth a visit for any aviation enthusiast.
