Planes of Fame Museum

Planes of Fame

A flyable P-51 Mustang hangared.
Established	1957
Location	Chino, California, and Valle, Arizona.
Type	Aviation museum
Collection size	150+ planes
President	Steve Hinton
Website	www.planesoffame.org

Planes of Fame Air Museum is an aviation museum located in Chino, California, and Valle, Arizona. The museum has many flying and static aircraft, along with multiple rare examples under restoration.

Planes of Fame Air Museum was founded by Edward T. Maloney on January 12, 1957 in Claremont, California, to save historically important aircraft. At that time, it was called "The Air Museum". A small group of volunteers, including future Museum president Steve Hinton, set out to make the museum's aircraft flyable.

As the Museum's collection of aircraft and memorabilia continued to grow, it became necessary to find a new home with enough space to house everything. In 1962 the museum relocated to nearby Ontario Airport, Ontario, California.

A few years later, in 1970, redevelopment of the airport at Ontario forced The Air Museum to move again. The non-flyable aircraft became part of the "Movie World: Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame Museum" in Buena Park, California, located near Knott's Berry Farm, while the flyable aircraft relocated to Chino Airport, about 30 miles (48 km) away. When Movie World closed, the name "Planes of Fame" stayed.

Planes of Fame consolidated in 1973, with its static aircraft joining the flying examples at historic Chino Airport in Chino, California. This was fitting as the airport was formerly the home of Cal-Aero Academy, which was an Army Air Corp flight training facility. The academy trained more than 10,000 pilots prior to the end of World War II, making it a perfect location in which to restore and give new life to the aircraft these men had flown into combat more than three decades earlier. As more and more aircraft were restored and the collection grew, an additional display facility was opened in 1995 at Valle, Arizona. Located halfway between Williams, Arizona and the south rim of the Grand Canyon, it houses more than 40 of the Museum’s aircraft, many of which are also flyable.