Hiller Aviation Museum, Aviation museum in San Carlos, US
The Hiller Aviation Museum displays aircraft, helicopters, and aviation artifacts spread across multiple exhibit halls with both civilian and military designs. The collection spans different eras and showcases the evolution of flight technology and engineering.
Stanley Hiller began collecting aircraft in a Redwood City warehouse in the late 1960s, and by 1986 the display held 15 aircraft. A trust he established funded a building at San Carlos Airport, where ground was broken in October 1996; the 53,000 sq ft museum opened on 5 June 1998.
Displays cover women in aviation alongside early California pioneers, air racing, the mechanics of flight, urban air mobility and weather. The museum also hosts the Biggest Little Air Show, an annual event of radio-control model aircraft that closes with a piloted aerobatic demonstration, and an annual Airport Runway Run.
The museum sits at San Carlos Airport, and its 53,000 sq ft building opened in 1998 after a lease was approved in March 1996. Inside, a retired British Airways Boeing 747-100 is entered by staircase, and flight simulators and an indoor drone plex are available. The Michael King Smith Research Library holds about 5,400 books.
The forward fuselage and flight deck of a retired British Airways Boeing 747-100, painted in Flying Tigers colors, can be entered by staircase. The museum also holds the Hiller XH-44, the first coaxial helicopter to fly in the United States, and Burt Rutan's personal Rutan Defiant.
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