American Airpower Heritage Museum and Confederate Air Force Headquarters
Midland International Airport
I-20 Business Route, Midland, TX
Phone: 915/567-3009
After World War II, handful of former service pilots put their wartime flying experience to use as crop-duster pilots in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. But when a group of them paid $2500 for a surplus P-51D Mustang in 1957, the seed was planted for the growth of the nation's finest and most complete collection of flyable WWII combat aircraft.
Approximately 20 of the 137 aircraft in the CAF are on display at any one time, with different aircraft quarterly. On display could be combat stalwarts such as P-40 Warhawk, P-38 Lightning, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-51 Mustang, P-39 Aircobra, P-63 King Cobra, P-82 Twin Mustang, F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, F4U Corsair, German Heinkel HE-111, and Messerschmitt. Other flyable planes include B-24 Liberator, B-17 Flying Fortress, B-29 Superfortress, A-26 Invader, B-25 Mitchell, C-47 Skytrain, and several trainers.
Open Mon. - Sat. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sun. and holidays noon - 5 p.m. Admission.
The museum remains dedicated to acquisition, restoration, and preservation in flying condition of these vintage military aircraft. CAF maintains impressive array of World War II planes of U.S., Britain, Germany and Japan. Major flying demonstration is "Airsho" in October.
When these dedicated pilots found that virtually all of the nearly 300,000 aircraft that had been produced during the war had been destroyed, they vowed to try to preserve at least one of each type so that future generations would understand and appreciate the importance and accomplishments of American airpower.
