Museum: the American Airpower Museum

This article is from Military History Matters issue 119

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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.

*The P-51D Mustang. Initially a poor performer at high altitude, it was transformed into a powerful warplane following its fitting with a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.*

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.

Holidays, such as Memorial Day (May), Independence Day (the 4th of July), and Labor Day (September), are especially good times to pay the museum a visit. Typically, warbirds from other parts of North America will fly to Republic Airport and stop here. In past years, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and a B-29 Superfortress have landed, as well as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator and an Avro Lancaster.

Smaller warplanes have also swung by on various holidays, including Supermarine Spitfires, a Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and a Vought F4U Corsair.

Permanent collection

The aircraft in the museum’s permanent collection, as distinct from the machines that temporarily visit, are similarly resonant with historical significance. Among the functional aircraft in the museum’s collection is a P-51D Mustang. One of the outstanding fighters to emerge from the war, the single-seat P-51 was North American Aviation’s response to the British Purchasing Commission’s interest in fighters. Initially, it proved to be a poor performer at high altitude: a crippling combat deficiency.