Structural Steel Deliveries Herald New Construction

The Flight Test Museum Foundation is a California-based non-profit organization about the noble and necessary work of raising funds to support the development and expansion of the Air Force Flight Test Museum at Edwards AFB.

Opened to the public in 2000, the 12,000-square-foot USAF Flight Test Museum includes 8500 square feet of exhibits, a forty-seat theater, a research library, gift shop, and administrative offices. Exhibits within the museum cover subjects such as the formation of the ancient lake beds upon which Edwards AFB sits, early homesteading in the area, flight testing during WWII, breaking the sound barrier, high-speed flight, and the story of base namesake Glen Edwards.

The museum’s inventory of aircraft is as extensive as it is impressive, comprising on-display specimens the likes of Bell’s P-59A Airacomet; Boeing’s NB-52B Stratofortress; Convair’s F-106B Delta Dart and TF-102A Delta Dagger; General Dynamics’s F-111A Aardvark and F-16B Fighting Falcon; Lockheed’s A-12 Oxcart, F-104A Starfighter, SR-71A Blackbird, U-2D Dragon Lady, and YF-22 Lightning II; McDonnell’s mighty F-4C Phantom II, and many, many more.

The next phase of the Flight Test Museum Foundation’s ambitious plan for the Edwards campus is the erecting of a 60,000-square-foot exhibition hall in which the sizeable fleet of aircraft currently being refurbished or stored by the museum may be displayed safely away from the damaging outside elements, in a venue befitting their rarity and historical significance.

Between 04 and 07 August 2022, nine truck-loads totaling 346,920-pounds of structural steel were delivered to the site of the planned exhibition hall. The steel, which will be used to frame the new structure, was purchased with monies generously provided by the Flight Test Museum Foundation’s donors.

Additional phases of the foundation’s plan include the construction of a 15,000-square-foot facility housing a visitor center, library, and archive; the installation of external features such as walkways, aircraft pads, aircraft taxi ramps, lighting, visitor parking, picnic areas, and outdoor displays; and a 60,000-square-foot open-sided hangar in which the museum will house its larger aircraft, artifacts, rockets, and assorted space-displays.

FMI: www.flighttestmuseum.org