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

Hickory Aviation Museum

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Hickory Aviation Museum

The Hickory Aviation Museum is located at the Hickory Regional Airport in Hickory, NC.
(210)

Hickory Aviation Museum---Free Admission
Mailing Address: 3101 9th Avenue NW Box 22A, Hickory NC 28601

08/26/2026

Oh man!!!!! Look at what just came out of the restoration area, the volunteers knocked it out of the park, again! Of course, no one is surprised as they look around the museum hangar and see the finished products as to the high standards and attention to detail they have in restoring the HAM aircraft.

Northrop F-5E Tiger II BuNo 741540 was originally USAF jet 74-1540 and taken on by the USAF in 1974. This aircraft simulated the MiG-21 for line units in DACM (Dissimilar Air Combat) with VMFT-401 at Yuma MCAS.

The F-5 was built mainly for export however the USAF purchased a few which ended up with the USMC. There were 1,399 Tiger II's built and another 1,200 A/B/C/D variants. Top speed is Mach 1.6, or just over 1,000mph and the jet is powered by two GE J85-GE-21 afterburning turbojet engines. The Tiger first flew in 1959 and Tiger II in 1972.

The aircraft will be moved into the new building and be available to see when we open on Tuesday morning, September 1, at 10am! The next plane up in the restoration lineup is the LTV A-7 Corsair II BuNo 154345.

08/25/2026

HAM would like to thank the Navy Talent Acquisition Group Carolinas Chief Petty Officers (CPO) and this years' Chief Petty Officer Selectees for spending the day at the museum helping out for a day of service as part of their initiation process. Last year, the group came out and washed aircraft and this year they were going to do a car wash but due to water restrictions, that had to be cancelled.

This year, the 2026 CPO selectees tackled shining up the P-80 Shooting Star jet as their project. Best of luck to all during their initiation and then as they return to their jobs as CPO's and assume bigger responsibilities and leadership duties!

08/24/2026

Our curator Kyle Kirby was extremely happy to be able to show our display featuring local resident 1LT Horace Bradshaw to his family visiting from TX and TN who was a pilot in WWII from Globe NC in Caldwell County. He flew SBD's with VMSB-243 "Flying Goldbricks" and Helldivers with VMSB-244 "Bombing Banshees" with the USMC in heavy fighting at Rabaul, New Britain and the Philippines.

On the left is Reg and Carol Pinson, Reg flew B-52's, KC-97's and C-130's and on the right are Mark and Lori Bradshaw and Beth Ward. Thank you for visiting and seeing the tribute to 1LT Bradshaw!

08/23/2026

Today in MilAvHist, first flight anniversary of the Lockheed YC-130 "Hercules" cargo plane on 8/23/1954. Famed Lockheed designer/engineer Kelly Johnson was said to have remarked to the VP/Chief Engineer about this "low speed unarmed aircraft" when in 1951, they were presented with a 130-page proposal: "If you sign that letter, you will destroy the Lockheed Company". Well, you can't be right all the time!

Since then, over 2,500 Herc's have been manufactured in over 40 variants and flown by 72 countries!

08/22/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 8/22/1956, we remember and honor the VQ-1 crew of 16 that was lost 32 miles off the coast of China. Launching from Iwakuni, Japan for routine patrol flight, P4M1-Q "Mercator" BuNo 124362 was attacked by fighter jets from the Chinese 2nd Aviation Division. The last radio call heard from the crew was they were being shot at and nothing was heard from them again.
US Navy ships in the area began a search and eventually wreckage, rafts, and two of the crew were found*. There would be three Mercator's lost in the "Cold War" from enemy attacks on routine patrols in international waters.

There were 21 Mercators built by the Glen Martin Company, and it first flew in 1946. They competed and lost to Lockheed for a long-range patrol bomber contract of which the US Navy chose the P-2 Neptune. They did order the Mercator in a small number for high speed mine-laying operations. They first entered service in 1951 with Patrol Squadron 21. In 1953, the 18 flyable airframes were modified for "Signal Intelligence" duty or SIGINT. They would receive new the designation of P4M-1Q.

The Mercator had unique engines with two Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major R4360 engines fitted with Allison J-33 turbojets mounted in the rear of the enlarged engine nacelles. These jet engines were for extra "oomph" for take-off and combat situations. The top speed was 410mph. For defense, there was a cannon in the nose and machine guns in the tail and the aircraft. The Mercator was retired in 1960. All surviving airframes were immediately scrapped. (USN Photos).

*Additional note: It has long been contended that there were two of the crew rescued by China, still alive. Throughout the years, despite unofficial reports of one of the Co-Pilots, LT James Deane, was being held as a prisoner and then was working in Shanghai, there has never been any information released by Beijing, and there probably never will have any sort of confirmation and the family must live with the uncertainty. LT Deane's widow has tirelessly spent her life trying to get information, but to no avail. SecState Donald Rumsfeld was involved and rumored to have received "top secret" information but nothing ever became known of this. (USN photos of aircraft and LT Deane).

08/21/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 8/21/1918, while piloting a Navy seaplane during WWI off the coast of P**a, which is in now Croatia, Ensign Charles Hammann landed his Macchi M.5 in the Adriatic Sea to rescue Ensign George Ludlow, who had just been shot down by Austro-Hungarian Forces.

The Macchi was not designed for two people, but Ens. Ludlow climbed aboard and the flew/taxied back to base in Italy despite the threat of attack from Austrian aircraft. For his actions, Hammann was awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was an enlisted pilot at the time, but a month later was promoted to Ensign. One year later, he was killed at Langley Field, he was 27. The USN would name two destroyers after him during WWII, the first was sunk during the Battle of Midway and the second was scrapped in 1974. (USN photos of Hammann and Ludlow in his seaplane. National Archives photo of the Macchi M.5)

08/20/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 8/20/1942, German U-Boat U-464 was on day 6 of its first patrol southeast of Iceland, when they were attacked by a PBY-5A-1 Catalina Flying Boat of Patrol Squadron 73 flown by LT Robert Hopgood and 7-man crew. VP-73 was having woe-full luck in their attacks and flying performance as a whole, so their Skipper, then Captain Daniel Gallery shut down the Officers Club at the base in Iceland as motivation for the boys!

Their mission that day was to protect a British ship convoy. The supply submarine was on the surface when they were attacked by the Catalina. Despite the crew exhausting their depth charge load, they damaged but did not sink the sub and it continued on the surface, headed straight for an Icelandic fishing trawler.

The story gets a little weird, the Germans claimed that the sub crew boarded and captured the fishermen, whereas the Icelanders claimed they rescued and held the crew captive until British Destroyers arrived to take them captive. The sub captain scuttled the sub and it sank after everyone was rescued.

According to a book later written by retired Admiral Gallery, Lt "Hoppy" Hopgood provided riveting radio commentary for the entire three hours that was broadcast and received by almost every base in England that had a receiver on that frequency and every Air Marshal, Admiral and Staff member on duty sat glued to their radios the entire time. When the destroyer arrived on scene, Hoppy broadcast his final report: "Sank Sub: Open Club" a phrase that left our Allies scratching their heads!

In the aftermath, it still has never been 100% decided who captured whom. Admiral Gallery's book seemed to side with the German viewpoint, however unreleased interrogation reports seem to indicate otherwise and so the sinking of U-464 lives on in mythology.

VP-73 sank seven more U-Boats during the war and the Officers Club stayed open. (US Navy Photos of VP-73's Catalinas).

08/19/2026

Let's combine three events into one day!

Today is National Aviation Day, recognizing the developments of aviation and its' pioneers. Why today? It's also Orville Wrights' Birthday, born 8/19/1871.

And thirdly, it is one of the greatest days in MilAvHist, 8/19/1958, using the civilian registry number of N1883, the first flight of the prototype for the P-3 Orion! This was the prototype #3 that was built for flight, it had a dummy MAD boom and weapons bay and retained the length of the L-188 Electra.

Within two months, Lockheed received a contract to build this aircraft, dubbed Type Specification #146. The aircraft was modified and loaded up with the anti-submarine gear to the actual specifications. as well as a shortened fuselage of about 8 feet which resulted in significant reduction in weight, pointier nose, 5 window cockpit vice 7, and a functioning bomb-bay.

The aircraft was assigned BuNo 148276 and flew about a year later and was operational until 1965 designated as P3V-1. The aircraft then flew with NASA until arriving at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola in 1992. Sadly, the aircraft was scrapped in 2016.

68 years later, Orion's are still flying! Although they are being phased out by the US Navy, they are still flying for US civilian agencies as well as numerous countries who are patrolling the seas.
In just 10 days, our P-3C Orion turns 57 years old!

08/18/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 8/18/1945, we remember US Army Sgt Anthony Marchione, age 19 of Pottstown PA, who was the last known air combat casualty of WWII. Two B-32 "Dominators" launched on reconnaissance flight from Okinawa to Tokyo to photograph Japanese surrender compliance and were jumped by several Japanese fighters based at Yokosuka. These pilots were from an outfit lead by two Aces who did not support any surrender until a formal document was signed and believed that no Allied aircraft should be allowed to fly over Japan until then.

As the B-32's tracked north, Japanese radar picked them up and they could see the fighters on the ground at Yokosuka scrambling to take off and intercept. The enemy fighters made 10 attack passes on the two bombers. Sgt Marchione was killed by a cannon shell, and despite being damaged, both B-32's made it back to Okinawa. One attacker was reportedly shot down by one of the B-32 gunners.

The following day, all propellers were ordered to be removed from every Japanese aircraft. Photos of both B-32s from this story and Sgt Marchione. (USAF Photos).

08/17/2026

Today in MilAvHist, 8/17/1940, Pilot Officer Billy Fiske, of the Royal Air Force passed away from injuries sustained during the Battle of Britain the day prior. Who was Billy Fiske? PO Fiske was an American!
Billy Fiske was born into a wealthy family who spent vacations in Europe skiing. In 1928 and 1932, he was the Captain of the American Olympic gold medal winning bobsled teams and was selected for 1936 but did not go as it was being held in Germany and he disagreed with the politics of that country. Some say he wasn't selected as the selection committee was based in Lake Placid and his team continually waxed the Lake Placid based folks in races. He and three friends are the founders of numerous ski resorts that were built back in the 1930s.

In 1940, he shipped off to England, lied and said he was Canadian and joined the RAF. A natural pilot, he breezed thru flight training and finally admitting to being a "Yank", he swore Oath to the King of England and was fully admitted into RAF.

On 8/16, he launched with his squadron of Hawker Hurricanes to intercept German dive bombers and his fuel tank was hit and caught fire. Badly burned, he opted to not bail out, but landed his plane back safely at the airfield. He died from surgical shock the next day at the age of 29. He is remembered as most likely the first American to join the RAF at the onset of WWII as well as the first to die. (Records show 7 Americans flew in the Battle of Britain, all but one was eventually KIA during the war.

PO Fiske was buried with full honors with a Union Jack and Stars and Stripes on his casket in St Mary and St Blaise churchyard in Boxgrove, Sussex, England. Britain used his funeral to spur on America to join the fight against Germany.

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

Website

http://www.hickoryaviationmuseum.org/

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