Hickory Aviation Museum

Hickory Aviation Museum The Hickory Aviation Museum is located at the Hickory Regional Airport in Hickory, NC.
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Hickory Aviation Museum---Free Admission
Mailing Address: 3101 9th Avenue NW Box 22A, Hickory NC 28601

Today in MilAvHist, 6/19/1947, USAF Col Albert Boyd set a new speed record flying a P-80R Shooting Star of 623.7mph. Th...
06/19/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/19/1947, USAF Col Albert Boyd set a new speed record flying a P-80R Shooting Star of 623.7mph. There were 1,715 Shooting Stars designed by Kelly Johnson and built by Lockheed and they were used by the USAF and USN and exported to 6 South American countries.

Major General Boyd had a 30-year flying career and when he retired, it's estimated in his over 23,000 flight hours, he flew over 720 aircraft in all their variants, and he was known as the Father of Modern Flight Testing. What an amazing career during a time of aviation improvements that changed nearly daily, not to mention the danger. This P-80R is on display at the USAF Museum in Ohio and you can see the Navy version in our new building.

MGEN Boyd also has ties to North Carolina, he graduated from Asheville High School in 1924 and attended Biltmore Junior College.

Today in MilAvHist, 6/18/81, the first flight of the F-117 Nighthawk. There were 64 manufactured by Lockheed. Even thou...
06/18/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/18/81, the first flight of the F-117 Nighthawk. There were 64 manufactured by Lockheed. Even though it's designation is "F" which is used for "Fighter", it is purely a ground attack aircraft. Stories have it that the 4 Star who was head of the Tactical Air Command wanted it designated to attract the top notch pilots required to fly it, they would be drawn to it as a designated Fighter, and not a Bomber or Attack aircraft.

Nice share by Visit North Carolina. What's worse than being an F-14 RIO on a P-3 Orion? Being an F-14 RIO photographed...
06/17/2026

Nice share by Visit North Carolina. What's worse than being an F-14 RIO on a P-3 Orion? Being an F-14 RIO photographed on a P-3 Orion! 😂 Thanks to our favorite Top Gun Docent Mike Vizcarra for giving great tours of all of our aircraft to our visitors!

Today in MilAvHist, 6/17/1988, P-3B Orion BuNo 155299 officially became an asset of the US Customs Service. 155299 was ...
06/17/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/17/1988, P-3B Orion BuNo 155299 officially became an asset of the US Customs Service. 155299 was part of a batch of 10 P-3B Orions, BuNo's 155291-155300 that were built by Lockheed for the Royal Australian Air Force in 1968. These were the final P-3B BuNos to be assigned.

155299 was accepted in 1968 and flew until 1982 when the RAAF received P-3C's. I flew with the RAAF 1991-1994 as a USN Exchange Officer. The aircraft was stored for a year and then returned to Lockheed (Burbank CA) for conversion.

In September 2023, the aircraft was retired and is on display at PIMA in Arizona.

Today in MilAvHist, 6/16/1959, another day highlighting the fact that the Cold War was not cold. A US Navy Electronic C...
06/16/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/16/1959, another day highlighting the fact that the Cold War was not cold. A US Navy Electronic Countermeasures Squadron One Martin P4M-1Q "Mercator" BuNo 122209 was on routine patrol in international waters in the Sea of Japan about 80 miles off the coast of North Korea. The crew had departed Misawa, Japan around 8am flew North and then began their westerly/southerly track towards Iwakuni Japan.

At 12:12pm, while in a turn away from land, they were jumped by two North Korean MiG 17 aircraft who conducted six passes, three of which were firing runs. One of the crew who was seated in the aft machine gun position was hit on the first run and injured. CDR Donald Mayer (photo in uniform) directed the crew to jettison gear as they dove for the deck and firewalled the throttles. At 50 feet above the water, LCDR Vincent Anania wrestled with the controls with no starboard engine, rudder controls shot away and extensive damage to the starboard wing and fuselage.

They recovered at Miho, Japan, some 300 miles away, miraculously all safe. Anania and Mayer were both awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. It is not known what exactly provoked the attack, it is suspected that the enemy fighters thought they were attacking a slower P-2 Neptune but instead found the Mercator which was about 100kts faster. Martin built 21 Mercator's, and sadly there are no surviving aircraft.

Capt. Anania (wearing helmet in photo) would transition to RF-8A photo reconnaissance aircraft in 1963 and fly missions during the Vietnam War. He also served in WWII and Korean War. He was inducted into the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force Hall of Honor in 2015. (Photo is of the actual Mercator and an uncredited display MiG-17).

Today in MilAvHist, 6/15/1946, the first performance for the public by the Navy's Flight Demonstration Team at Craig Air...
06/15/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/15/1946, the first performance for the public by the Navy's Flight Demonstration Team at Craig Airfield, Jacksonville FL. Five weeks later they would be named Blue Angels.

In April 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Chester Nimitz determined that there was a need to generate more public support for Naval Aviation and Adm. Ralph Davison personally selected LCDR Roy Voris, a WWII Ace to put together a team. Flying modified F6F-5 Hellcats, the team which consisted of Voris and three other instructor pilots, conducted a 15-minute air show in May 1946 for the Navy Brass who were completely enthused with the effort. They used three Hellcats in the show, keeping one in reserve and a T-6 Texan painted to simulate a Japanese Zero.

Thousands of shows and millions of show attendees later, the Blues continue putting on a top notch show around the country. This is their sixth season flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft,.

HAM was selected to receive Blue Angel 5 F/A-18A Legacy Hornet when it was retired in November 2020.

Happy Birthday to the US Army and also Happy Flag Day!
06/14/2026

Happy Birthday to the US Army and also Happy Flag Day!

Today in MilAvHist, the US Coast Guard established the first air traffic flight following service, 6/13/1929. The first...
06/13/2026

Today in MilAvHist, the US Coast Guard established the first air traffic flight following service, 6/13/1929. The first aircraft to use the system was a Loening Amphibian.

The USCG already had the radio system in place along the Eastern Seaboard to aid in maritme search and rescue and law enforcement for illegal activities like smuggling, and at no additional cost to the US Government, they provided flight following, an aircraft would report abeam a station with times along with takeoff and land times they could be easily tracked. Also at these stations had rescue boats just in case. The stations also became depicted on flying charts so an aircraft in distress would know of the nearest station.

During the first two months of operations, 329 aircraft used the service and within 3 years, that grew to over 1400. The service expanded to the Gulf of Mexico and then along the West Coast leading to a country-wide system of air traffic control by 1936.

By 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was formed to take over air traffic control, relieving the USCG of this system, however, they continue to expand their system to further assist in shipping. Great job, Coasties and thanks to the many men and women who operate the ATC system around the world.

Today in MilAvHist, 6/12/1969, the first P-3C (Charlie) Orion was accepted by the USN and assigned to VP-30, the east co...
06/12/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 6/12/1969, the first P-3C (Charlie) Orion was accepted by the USN and assigned to VP-30, the east coast training command and now the only training command. BuNo 156508 would go on to fly for the next 30 years before being used for service life/fatigue testing at Dobbins AFB in Marietta, GA, one of Lockheed's homes, and then stricken off charge and used for parts until scrapping when the wing roots finally were destroyed.

The "Charlies" were a step up with a totally re-designed interior with new equipment. Seven weeks later, our BuNo 156515 would be accepted by VP-30 and in 2017 it was retired.

(Photo of 156508 while with VP-1 sometime in the 1980s attributed to K. Snyder). I think the Orion's look the best with the white/gray color scheme and the colorful squadron logos on the vertical stabilizer.

For all the aircraft owners looking for something to do on June 27, fly on over to HKY and spend a few hours! For you p...
06/11/2026

For all the aircraft owners looking for something to do on June 27, fly on over to HKY and spend a few hours! For you parents with kids who love watching aircraft, what a better time to come out to watch what should be a busy day at the airport.

Please use the contact person at City of Hickory for any questions as this is their event, and NO, this is not an airshow.

Address

821 21st Street NW
Hickory, NC
28601

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 1pm - 5pm

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