History

Back in 1990, when two men with two airplanes came up with the idea of staring a military aviation museum in Paso Robles, California, they had little idea that 40 years later their big ideas turned into a huge reality. As more people became involved and aircraft "just happened to show up", something much bigger happened. People began to realize that this was to be a place to help preserve military history for tomorrow's generation, and donations of military artifacts began to show up on site. Some personal memorabilia, some Army aviation, some Naval aviation, and then came the military vehicles.

Soon thereafter came the first amphibious vehicle, and then another and the museum continued to expand. And then the Navy arrived - from seaman to admirals, and all the talents and memories they brought with them. Paso Robles is many miles away from being a seaport and is actually in a partial desert community. Most naval vessels are considerably bigger than any of our facilities and although we would if we could, we know that size does matter, so instead of bringing in, say an aircraft carrrier, we found that we did have room for some very exquisite detailed models built by extremely talented hands. We never know what's going to show up. But we're glad they did. Surprise! We're not just an aviation museum!