Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum is located on historic Ford Island, a 441-acre island in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Moored off its shores on Sunday, December 7, 1941, were some of the largest ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in additional to the dozens of patrol and scout planes that filled the hangars and airfield, all of which were targets on that fateful morning. Now a National Historic Landmark, Ford Island is quiet today but still shows the scars of war.
Our mission is to steward America’s first aviation battlefield of World War II – sharing the artifacts, personal stories, the impact and response to the attack on December 7, 1941 and the Pacific region battles that followed – and to honor those who have defended our freedom so we might educate and inspire future generations.
The Museum features two historic Hangars:
HANGAR 37
Housed in an authentic World War II-era hangar, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum’s Hangar 37 is home to the artifacts of our collection that tell the story of America’s involvement in World War II from the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway and beyond.
HANGAR 79
Hangar 79 picks up where the story in Hangar 37 leaves off, documenting the rise of American air superiority that was established in World War II and continued to climb in subsequent decades in the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars.