While not a huge museum, the Lone Star Flight Museum is at the top of my list of favorite aviation museums. It’s perfect if you’re into planes like I am, packed with beautifully restored aircraft and awesome exhibits!
Even though the Lone Star Flight Museum ended up being one of the highlights of our week-long vacation to Galveston, we actually stumbled upon it by accident! We had originally planned to spend an entire day at Space Center Houston, but we ended up running out of things to do (and patience for the crowds) so we left the space center midafternoon. Rather than making the drive back to Galveston so early, we sat outside the space center and started Googling to see what was around that looked interesting. I opened Google Maps, searched for museums, and the first place that popped up was the flight museum. Luckily, the museum’s homepage said it was open so off we went!
The museum is located at Ellington Airport, which supports a large number of military and commercial aviation operations. Before and during both world wars, Ellington Field (as it was known then) served as a training facility for military pilots, so it makes sense that the airport is now home to one of the finest collections of historic military aircraft.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the lack of other cars in the parking lot. After the chaos of the space center, this was a welcome relief. We would have the museum practically to ourselves!
The Waltrip and Heritage Hangars
As we entered each hanger, the first thing we noticed was how spacious and sparkling clean the museum was. Even the planes were gleaming! Each aircraft was so lovingly restored they looked like they just rolled off the assembly line.
As I began walking around the first hanger, I noticed signs by some of the aircraft advertising warbird rides. Come to find out, these aircraft are not just static displays in the museum….you can actually book a ride in one! Unfortunately, you need to book this ride well in advance, otherwise I would have totally booked a flight in the B-25!
One thing I appreciated about the museum was the wealth of information they shared. Next to each aircraft are storyboards with a detailed history and description of every aircraft and (if possible) the history of that particular aircraft.
Some of the stories were rather humorous. I had to share this particular story with one of my dad’s military friends, who is a retired Marine. We’ve known him a long time and he is indeed ornery when bored.
There was also a viewing gallery of each hangar up a flight of stairs, where you can get a panoramic overview of the planes.
The second hangar had a really cute Christmas display.
Notice anything funny about that last picture? One cute thing we noticed were stuffed animals dressed as pilots hanging out of some of the cockpits. This was part of a scavenger hunt for children. I am not sure if this this is something they do all of the time, but we had fun looking for all the little stuffed pilots.
There was also a Space Gallery exhibit featuring a crew compartment trainer as well as other interesting artifacts from NASA. I jokingly said that if I had known they had the space gallery here we could have completely skipped the space center.
There was also a cute little Space Bear hanging out….
Aviation Academy
The last exhibit we went through was a large room filled with almost 30 different hands-on activities demonstrating scientific principals of aerodynamics, airplane design and flight. At first I was going to skip it thinking it was just for kids (and it is) but we actually spent about a good amount of time in there reading all the signs and conducting all of the “experiments.” I felt like I was back in physics class – one of my favorite subjects in both high school and college!
There was also a pretty decent glider simulator.
I’m going to be honest now. One of the things that made the Lone Star Flight Museum outstanding in my opinion was their presentation on how to make paper airplanes. Why? Because who doesn’t have fun making paper airplanes?
If you ever find yourself in the Houston area and enjoy military aircraft and history like I do, this is the place for you! It’s a small but fascinating museum to wander about in. It’s definitely worth spending a few hours here!
What To Know Before You Go
Located at the corner of Aerospace Avenue and Challenger at Ellington Airport, The museum is open year-round (except for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day) on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10am-5pm and on Sundays from 12pm-5pm. It’s also open on Mondays in the summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Parking is plentiful and free.
There is a cafe that serves coffee, drinks and light snacks, as well a fun souvenir shop.
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