Category: Museums / Organizations

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USAF Museum Completes Restoration of Bleriot XI [Video]

After eight months of dedicated work, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has completed restoration of their 1909 Bleriot XI.

As previously reported, The type is famous for being the first aircraft to cross the English Channel in July 1909, and it was used by several famous early aviators from Louis Bleriot himself, to Adolphe Pégoud to Harriet Quimby. It even saw service in the early months of WW1. The museum’s specific example was built from factory drawings by Ernest C. Hall of Warren, Ohio in 1911. He donated it to the museum in 1939. It was removed from public display in 2023 for restoration, with work beginning earlier this year.

The aircraft has since been rolled out for its official photoshoot and plans call for it to return to display in the museum’s early years gallery some time this month. Check out additional photos and a video of the completed aircraft below.

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USAF Museum to Restore CASA 2.111H / Heinkel He 111 [Video]

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has announced the upcoming restoration of their CASA 2.111H (Spanish HE-111H).

The CASA 2.111H was a Spanish-built development of the German Heinkel He 111H-16 twin-engine medium bomber, manufactured under license by Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. First flown in May 1945, the CASA 2.111 retained the Heinkel’s distinctive glazed nose and broad wings. Early aircraft used German Junkers Jumo engines, while later examples received British Rolls-Royce Merlins because of engine-supply difficulties. The type served with the Spanish Air Force into the early 1970s and became familiar to cinema audiences portraying Luftwaffe bombers in the 1969 film Battle of Britain.

The museum’s example was donated by the Spanish Air Force and has been in the museum’s storage facility for some time. The newly released photos / video, which can be seen below, appears to show the aircraft being relocated to the restoration hangar. As of this writing, additional details, such as a timeframe for completion, have not been announced.

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Tillamook Air Museum Announces Grand Reopening Date

Ten months after a storm caused significant damage to its historic facility known as “Hangar B,” Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon is set to reopen to the public under its new owners, the nonprofit Vintage Aviation Museum of Spanish Fork, Utah.

The museum is scheduled to reopen at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 29. The move comes following “an incredible amount of work” behind the scenes to restore the familiar museum experience visitors knew before the storm. This includes returning aircraft, exhibits and collections to the museum and preparing Hangar B for reopening. Work on the hangar itself is also ongoing, with details currently being worked out for repairing the storm-damaged section and ensuring long term preservation.

As previously reported, a deal was announced in August for the Vintage Aviation Museum to assume operation of Tillamook. They plan to relocate most of their aircraft collection to Tillamook while also bringing additional historic aircraft, eventually utilizing the entire hangar for aviation-related exhibits, aircraft displays, preservation, education, and visitor experiences. The “Tillamook Air Museum” name will remain.

To celebrate the reopening, Tillamook will will remain open until 7:00 pm on October 29. Check out the full announcement below.

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Solway Aviation Museum Details Recent Work Reassembling World’s Only Remaining Blackburn Beverly [Video]

Solway Aviation Museum in Cumbria, England recently shared video updates on their work preserving the world’s only remaining Blackburn Beverly.

The Beverley was a large British military transport aircraft developed in the early Cold War period for the Royal Air Force. First flown in 1950 and entering service in 1956, it had a distinctive high-wing, twin-boom layout with a raised tailplane, four Bristol Centaurus radial engines, and a rear clamshell loading door that allowed bulky vehicles, cargo, and paratroops to be carried. Although slow and visually ungainly, the Beverley was valued for its rugged short-field performance and exceptional load-carrying ability, serving with RAF transport squadrons in Britain, the Middle East, and the Far East until its retirement in 1967.

The museum’s aircraft (XB259) last flew at the end of March 1974 when it was flown to Paull airfield for Hull Aero Club’s use as a clubhouse. It was saved from scrapping following the closure of a small museum at Fort Paull in 2020 and relocated to Solway where it is currently in the process of being reassembled. Check out recent video updates below, which detail the cockpit section and center wing section being lifted back onto the main fuselage and progress on the engine mounts.

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Museum Retrieves B-17 Remains, Future Plans to be Announced

The South Pacific WWII Museum in Luganville, Espiritu Santo (the largest Island of Vanuatu) has announced the acquisition and retrieval of the remains of B-17E (S/N 41-9227) “Yankee Doodle Jr.”

The aircraft crashed on December 31, 1942 while on a flight to Fiji to acquire liquor for a New Year’s Eve party, resulting in the deaths of the pilot and co-pilot. It’s remains had been lying in the jungle inland from Million Dollar Point until the acquisition, which came about due to the generosity of the local landowner.

Plans for the remains will reportedly be announced in the upcoming South Pacific WWII Museum newsletter. Check out the full announcement and accompanying photos below.

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New Video Documents Recent Formation Flight of World’s Only Airworthy Helldivers

On August 20th, 2026 Fagen Fighters WWII Museum SB2C-5 Helldiver joined the CAF SB2C-5 Helldiver and the National Museum of WWII Aviation SB2C-1A Helldiver for a formation flight over Colorado Springs, Colorado. This marked the first formation flight in decades for the world’s only remaining airworthy Helldivers.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a U.S. Navy carrier-based dive bomber developed during World War II to replace the Douglas SBD Dauntless. Larger, faster, and more heavily armed than its predecessor, it carried a two-man crew, internal bomb bay, wing-mounted 20 mm cannon, and could deliver bombs, rockets, or depth charges against ships and land targets. Although early production aircraft were troubled by handling, reliability, and structural problems—earning unflattering nicknames from many crews—the Helldiver was steadily improved and became an important late-war strike aircraft, serving in major Pacific operations from 1943 through 1945 and remaining in postwar service with several foreign air arms.

Today, Fagan Fighters WWII Museum released a new film produced by Scott and Kyle Guyette capturing the once-in-a-lifetime event. Check it out below.

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B-24 Liberator “Rupert the Roo II” Gets New Paint During Restoration [Video]

The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, GA has posted a new timelapse video showing the ongoing restoration of their B-24 Liberator Project – specifically the application of new paint.

For everyone who had something to say about the pink… we have an update. It’s gone. This timelapse offers a fascinating look as the old finish disappears and another major step in the restoration takes shape.The transformation continues for the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force’s B-24 Liberator. Now at LandLocked Aviation, the aircraft has moved into the paint and restoration phase, and this timelapse gives you a front-row seat as years of weathering begin to give way to a new finish.

As previously reported, the B-24J-20-FO Liberator (S/N 44-487821) was originally built by the Ford Motor Company at Willow Run, Michigan 1944. It has been on outdoor display for decades, most recently at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Over that time it has worn several liveries, including Laiden Maiden, Louisiana Belle II (seen above), and Rupert the Roo II.

In June 2025 plans were announced for the aircraft to relocate to The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, a process that includes painting and restoration. The aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Phase I was completed in May with the ailerons, flaps, horizontal stabilizers, turrets, propeller assemblies, and all four engines being cataloged and removed for transport and restoration. The completion of Phase II saw the wing assembly, fuselage, and remaining major components leave Barksdale for restoration at offsite locations.

The aircraft will be installed within the museum’s expanded galleries for public exhibition with the projected date being sometime in the spring of 2027. Check out newly released repainting video below.

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Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s 60th Anniversary Celebrated With Updated Pictorial History

Coming soon from Pen & Sword Aviation and author Jarrod Cotter is The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight: A History in Pictures, an updated new edition to celebrate their 60th anniversary.

In 2007 the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight celebrated its landmark 50th anniversary and Jarrod Cotter was chosen to write a book charting the Flight’s history which began with the formation of the Historic Aircraft Flight in July 1957. This volume brings the story fully up-to-date to mark the BBMF s 60th anniversary. It still includes the in-depth story of the formation of the Flight, for which the author uniquely traced the families of those involved to reveal a host of illuminating insights. However, while the 50th anniversary book went on to tell the rest of the story in an in-depth fashion, this volume utilises high quality colour digital photographs taken in recent years to show the aircraft in flight and so acts as the perfect companion to the first volume. This will be the ultimate souvenir of the celebration of the BBMF s 60th anniversary.

The 304 page, hardcover book is currently available for pre-order with release set for October 30.

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USAF Museum Shares Interactive, 360 Degree Video of Aircraft in Storage

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio has released a new, 360 degree video of their storage facility, which consists of restricted hangars and secure annexes at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Among the aircraft seen in the video are a Junkers Ju 52, a General Dynamics EF-111A Raven, Stearman PT-17, Douglas B-23 Dragon, McDonnell Douglas YF-4E Phantom II and an ultra rare North American F-107A, an experimental Mach 2 fighter-bomber that is easily recognizable by its unusual top-mounted intake over the cockpit.

Check it out below.

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Aircraft Restoration Company Welcomes Maude P-40E: “Exciting Times Lay Ahead”

This week the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk known as the “Maude P-40” arrived at the Aircraft Restoration Company’s Duxford base.

The aircraft (S/N AK803) was delivered to the RCAF in October 1941 and based at an RCAF Station in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where it saw use in anti-submarine patrols. Later, it was flown 4,000 miles to Annette Island, Alaska (setting a record in the process) before moving on to Boundary Bay near Vancouver, British Columbia, where it performed fighter affiliation work with B-24s and B-25s. In 1946 it was acquired for $50 by George Maude, an RCAF veteran, who floated it on a makeshift log raft it to his family home.

The aircraft is now described as an in-house project owned by the Aircraft Restoration Company, which states:

It has long been a pipe dream to add a P-40 to the collection, and we have been following the journey of this particular one for over a decade. When it came onto the market, we felt it was now or never! Exciting times lay ahead

Check out photos of its arrival below.

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