High-Flying Adventure: Aircraft Museum Roadtrip

The East Coast's best air and space museums and events

Americans have been at the forefront of aviation ever since the Wrights lifted off a lonely North Carolina beach, making aviation museums educational and quite possibly inspirational for kids. Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Aviation has come a long way since Orville Wright’s flight in 1903, making air and space collections a must-see on many bucket lists. With so many incredible museums spread across the United States, this list focuses on those on the East Coast—we promise to cover the others in subsequent issues.

Visitors enjoying a close-up look at World War I Sopwith Camel aircraft. Alena Veasey/Shutterstock

Smithsonian Greats

The best place to start is the Big Daddy of them all, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, located in Washington, with a second facility in nearby Chantilly, Virginia. This collection stands out by providing its guests the opportunity to get a rare, up-close look at a World War I Sopwith F.1 Camel—yes, just like the one Snoopy flies—the space shuttle Discovery, and a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane that flew faster than the speed of sound. Other notable aircraft include the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and hastened the end of World War II.

Budget a day at each location in order to take advantage of the various exhibits of space and aviation-related gear, as well as seminars and presentations in the IMAX theaters at both locations. Savvy travelers will check ahead to review the schedules and plan visits accordingly.

Exploring aviation museums helps guests realize the huge strides made since the Wright Brothers’ historic flight. spatuletail/Shutterstock

Overnight in New York

New York City is now the home of the aircraft carrier Intrepid and the Intrepid Experience. The ship, which was decommissioned in 1974, is now permanently berthed on the Hudson River. The ship’s rotating exhibits include 3D documentaries on World War II, female astronauts, submarine warfare, and more. Several notable items in this collection include the USS Growler, the only guided missile submarine open to the public; the space shuttle Enterprise; and a British Airways Concorde that set an air speed record for crossing the Atlantic.

For a truly memorable experience, make reservations for Operation Slumber, in which guests are allowed to spend the night aboard and take part in a number of unique events, including meals on board, after-dark tours of the flight deck, access to the planetarium, and a 60-day pass for return visits.

An Apollo command module is just one of many spacecraft on display at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mia2you/Shutterstock

North Carolina’s Lift-Off

Continuing the trek south, an ideal destination is North Carolina, where manned flight quite literally got off the ground, making it a very appropriate location for the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. Visitors can watch videos on the history of manned flight, visit the actual spot where Orville lifted off, and walk through a reconstruction of the hangar and the living quarters used by the Wrights.

Asheville has the North Carolina Aviation Museum and Hall of Fame. This facility preserves significant examples of military and commercial aircraft, including a Piper J-3 Flitfire flown by Orville Wright and a Boeing Stearman biplane, plus numerous educational exhibits. The group also hosts an exciting annual air show in October.

An aviation buff must-see is the Kill Devil Hills site where Orville Wright made man’s first powered flight. Jiratchaya Panyayong/Shutterstock

Launches at the Space Center

The Sunshine State’s bright blue skies have seen everything from paragliders over the beach to SpaceX flights, making it a natural for any road trip to aviation museums. At the top of the list is the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where guests can explore the future of space travel in the Deep Space Launch Complex. There, they participate in a virtual journey through the solar system and see a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, a Cargo Dragon that delivered supplies to the International Space Station, and equipment that will soon return man to the moon via the Artemis missions.

Other attractions include the space shuttle Atlantis, a walk through missiles and rockets in the Rocket Garden, the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, a realistic moonscape diorama, a guided bus tour of the grounds, and a recreation of the Apollo 8 launch from Mission Control. To get the most from a visit to this impressive facility, plan your arrival to coincide with a scheduled launch.

Florida’s Kennedy Space Center is a repository of a wealth of spacecraft and related equipment. Allard One/Shutterstock

Florida’s Aviator Displays

Not too far from Cape Canaveral is the city of Lakeland, home to the Florida Air Museum. This collection includes aircraft owned and flown by Howard Hughes, who was a driving force in aviation technology, as well as multiple U.S. Navy fighter craft—including the unique Vertical Riser and a full-scale recreation of the Wright Brothers’ Wright Flyer—along with educational exhibits chronicling aviation technology.

If your visit to the Lakeland area will take you there in early April, make sure to attend the annual EAA Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, an epic fly-in that puts hundreds of military, commercial, and experimental aircraft on display on the ground and overhead as they perform acrobatic maneuvers and fly-overs. Sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association, this fly-in at Lakeland Linder Airport is a must for aviation buffs and an amazing adventure even for those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground.