Grissom Air Museum, Military aviation museum in Peru, Indiana, United States
Grissom Air Museum is an outdoor military aviation museum in Peru, Indiana, set on the grounds of a former Air Force base. More than twenty aircraft are displayed across the open grounds, covering a range of eras in American military aviation.
The site was first established as a naval air station in the 1940s and later became an Air Force base during the Cold War. Former military personnel founded the museum in the early 1980s to keep the memory of those years alive.
The museum is named after Gus Grissom, an astronaut and fighter pilot who grew up nearby in Mitchell, Indiana. His personal story runs through much of what visitors see on the grounds, from his military career to his role in the early US space program.
The grounds are large and best explored on foot, so wear comfortable shoes and bring sun protection on warm days. Some aircraft can be entered or climbed into, and a tall observation tower from the Cold War era is also open to visitors.
The site hosted four separate military installations over the decades, and equipment from each of those eras is still present on the grounds today. This layering of different chapters makes it one of the few places where visitors can trace such a long stretch of American military history in a single location.
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