Carolinas Aviation Museum

The Carolinas Aviation Museum is an aviation museum on the grounds of Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mission of the Museum is to educate the public about the importance of aviation to our society and inspire the next generation to excel academically in the areas of math, science, and history through the preservation of our aviation heritage.

The Museum was founded in 1992 by Floyd and Lois Wilson, and has a collection of over 50 static aircraft and a wealth of smaller historic items related to aviation in the North and South Carolina. Most of the collection consists of Cold War military aircraft, including several historic jet aircraft from the 1950s and 1960s. Several aircraft came from the closed Florence Air & Missile Museum, Florence, South Carolina. A significant number of aircraft have also come from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Marine Corps Air Station New River. The Museum also operates a number of flying aircraft, and with access to four runways, one over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in length, historic aircraft including the B-17, B-24, B-29 and Berlin Airlift C-54 have flown in to visit the museum from time to time.

Until April 2010, the Museum was located in the airport's original 1932 hangar, built by the Works Progress Administration. In April 2010, the Museum moved into a new facility at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport at 4672 First Flight Drive. The new facility has enabled the majority of the aircraft to be inside a climate-controlled facility along with new displays.

In addition to the Main Museum, the Museum also operates an aviation library and a storage and restoration facility. The Museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday's 1pm to 5pm.