Our Mission Statement

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The Fresno Air Museum is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and will be the only air museum in the Central Valley to have fully operational aircraft. Location has tentatively been set to be at Fresno’s Chandler Air Field.  Our main source of support will come from privet donations and grants from local businesses.  Our plan is to educate the valley in its rich aviation history through the display of historical aircraft, air shows, school outreach programs and other community programs.  These programs will not only benefit our rapidly vanishing WWII veterans but also educate our kids in aviation history.  It is only through your support that we can make this happen.

  You may be asking you self “Why spend money on old airplanes. How could that inspire education” Most teenagers do not know the huge role the Central Valley had in the defense of our great nation during World War II.  Now if you ask a person over the age of 70 you would be regaled with stories in how the Fresno Air terminal was once call Hammer Army Air Field and how on any given day you could see and hear the mighty B-24 Liberators flying over head preparing to depart for destinations unknown, or how you could see formations of BT-13s flying out of Eagle Field in Los Banos. How at dusk you could hear the rumble of P-61 Black Widows taking off for their nightly practice bombing runs.  If you’re lucky, they may tell you of that horrific winter of 1942 when a flight of P-40s crashed all over the Sierras, some of the pilots were never heard from again and others, through courage and fortitude, survived and walked out of the mountains.  Now if through the restoration of Historic aircraft we can create a venue in which we can take kids from our Valley and get them talking to our veterans and elderly Valley citizens, it will not only teach our kids about the history of the place where they live but it will also instill a sense of pride and respect to know how large a part their home played in the defense of freedom.

  Some 1200 World War II veterans die everyday and with them their stories, experiences and hard learned lessons.  This museum will give our honored veterans a place to come and share their stories. And with continued support we will be able to hear their stories even after they are gone.  Someone once said, “Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them” We here at the Fresno Air Museum are determined not to let our population forget what our greatest generation sacrificed for us.

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