Facilities

The Museum's second phase was 50' x 100' building, The Al Schade Restoration Facility and workshop, which includes a full shop with necessary machinery and tools, for restoration of the aircraft, vehicles and equipment, as well as storage space for inventories and components. Constructed mainly by Museum volunteers, it was ready for occupancy in late 1999 and is now a bustling center of activity.

The Museum's third building project, the Glen Thomson Meeting Hall, is more than just a place for some tables and chairs for meetings, but includes a full-service kitchen, a wet bar, rest rooms, air-conditioning and heating system and wireless internet access. Above the modest convention center is the permanent Library and Research Center. The Library opened in April, 2008. We occasionally rent out use of use of Thomson Hall. We are the only facility in the area that offers a secure meeting room that business professionals can drive or fly to and have the high speed wireless internet service they require.

Finished in 2007 is our fourth building, Freedom Hall, which is the primary artifact museum facility, housing the many displays and historical artifacts we have acquired. Displays are refreshed periodically, new items are continually being added to encourage repeat visits, and our slate of events grows to include hangar dances, film nights, opportunities for scholastic field trips, occasional visits by historical aircraft from around the nation, and special celebrations for relative holidays. Far from being just a dusty storehouse for artifacts, the Estrella Warbirds presents a living, entertaining, and educational museum, a showcase that our community can rightly be proud.

The Brooks Building was completed in January of 2009 and contains nearly 5,000 square feet of storage space for restored vehicles, armament, a small restoration garage and a controlled storage area for preserving some of the many uniforms donated to the museum. The facility offers an excellent show place for the exquisitely restored military vehicles, an elaborate munitions display, missiles and  aviation radio equipment displays. During January, 2012, an additional 2500 square feet was added to the building allowing much needed space for displays to be protected from the environment, ensuring a greater life span for these historical artifacts.

Building number 6, the Woodland Automobile Display Building was initially completed during July, 2009.  The original facility covers just under 5,000 square feet and house an incredible collection of auto and racing memorabilia which is truly unique to the Paso Robles area.  The initial response was tremendous, and it was not long before plans for a 4,000 square foot addition were in place to allow for continued growth. The addition was finished in late 2010. The automotive collection includes classic autos, early year race cars, sprint cars, Indy style cars, NASCAR vehicles, sprint car racing simulator, engines, signage, plus a tremendous assortment of historical racing memorabilia. 

In 2011, the Hind Foundation granted $243,563 to the Estrella WarBirds Museum to build a new facility to connect the existing Freedom Hall to the Brooks Building. The museum dedicated the new facility to the Hind Foundation by naming it the Hind Pavilion, which will showcase the many exhibits that the museum currently cannot display due to lack of space – from jeeps and fighter jets to antique ambulances and modern missiles, and other countless equipment and memories. Additionally, the gift shop will be moved to this new Hind Pavilion.