Minnesota Air National Guard Museum

Minnesota Air National Guard Museum

Museum hangar
Location within Minnesota
Established	22 July 1984 (1984-07-22)
Location	Fort Snelling, Minnesota
Coordinates	44.893°N 93.204°W / 44.893; -93.204
Type	Military aviation museum
Founder	Brig. Gen. Alfred C. Schwab, Jr.[1]
Website	mnangmuseum.org

The museum's airpark

The Minnesota Air National Guard Museum is an aviation museum located at Minneapolis–Saint Paul Joint Air Reserve Station in Fort Snelling, Minnesota. It is dedicated to the history of the Minnesota Air National Guard.

History

Founded by the 133rd Tactical Air Guard Historical Foundation in four former F-89 hangars and a two-story building, the museum was officially dedicated on 22 July 1984.^[2][3] However, it only opened to the public in April 1987.^[2][a]

Following the September 11th attacks, the museum was forced to disassemble its main exhibit gallery and place it in storage.^[5][6][7] The hangars were used to host F-16s from the 179th Fighter Squadron for five months. After they vacated the building, the museum reopened in 2004.^[8]

A significant dispute arose in 2007 over the transfer of a Lockheed A-12 from the museum to the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. The museum had recovered the aircraft from California in 1990, but it was on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force.^[9] To satisfy the CIA's request, the latter argued that the former did not meet the requirements for museums in its loan program and it was the only available example that did not have a significant connection to its community. The Minnesota Air National Guard Museum countered that A-12s at other museums were better candidates for the transfer.^[10][11] Nevertheless, the aircraft was eventually moved to CIA headquarters.^[12][b]

A Bell AH-1S Cobra at the museum was transferred to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in March 2019.^[14]

Collection

• Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor^[15]
• Bell UH-1H Iroquois^[16]
• Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter^[17]
• Convair C-131H Samaritan^[18]
• Convair F-102 Delta Dagger^[19]
• Curtiss JN-4H – replica^[20]
• Curtiss Oriole – replica^[21][c]
• Douglas C-47 Skytrain^[25]
• General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon^[26]
• Lockheed C-130A Hercules^[27]
• Lockheed F-94C Starfire^[28]
• Lockheed T-33A^[29]
• McDonnell F-4C Phantom II^[30]
• McDonnell F-101B Voodoo^[31]
• McDonnell RF-4C Phantom II^[32]
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15^[33]
• North American AT-6 Texan^[34]
• North American F-51 Mustang^[35]
• North American T-28 Trojan^[36]
• Northrop F-89H Scorpion^[37]
• Piper L-4 Grasshopper^[38]

See also

• South Dakota Air and Space Museum
• List of aviation museums

References

Footnotes

1. The same month a former Royal Canadian Air Force F-101, one of the last two flying, was placed on display.^[4]
2. A few months after the disassembly, a T-28 was moved to the museum by helicopter.^[13]
3. Completed in 1995, this aircraft replaced another replica destroyed in a crash in 1970.^[22][23][24]

Notes

1. "Alfred C. Schwab Jr". Legacy.com. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
2. "History of the Air Guard Museum". Minnesota Air Guard Museum. Archived from the original on 1 June 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
3. "Museum Dedication to Include Aircraft Display". Minneapolis Star and Tribune. 20 July 1984. p. 14A. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
4. Cleator, George (6 April 1987). "Last Two Voodoo Aircraft Retired at Ceremony Saturday". The Nugget. p. 9. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
5. "[Untitled]". Minnesota Air Guard Museum. Archived from the original on 1 June 2002. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
6. "The Museum Being Dismantled". Minnesota Air Guard Museum. Archived from the original on 20 April 2002. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
7. "The Museum in Storage". Minnesota Air Guard Museum. Archived from the original on 20 April 2002. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
8. "The Museum is Open Again!!!" (PDF). Spring–Summer 2004. pp. 1, 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
9. Foster, Jim (17 July 1990). "Spy Plane Will Retire to National Guard Museum". StarTribune. p. 2Be. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
10. Orrick, Dave (26 January 2007). "Museum Says Prized Spy Plane Hijacked". TwinCities.com. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
11. Karp, Jonathan (26 January 2007). "How the CIA Captured an A-12 Blackbird". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
12. "Article #128 SN: 60-6931". Roadrunners Internationale. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
13. Flores, Elizabeth (19 May 2007). "Special Delivery". StarTribune. p. B1. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
14. Parsons, Dan (28 May 2020). "An old Cobra returns to its artillery roots and finds a new home in Oklahoma". Vertical. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
15. "Beechcraft C-45 "Expeditor"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
16. "UH-1H Iroquois "Huey"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
17. "Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
18. "Convair C-131H Samaritan". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
19. "Convair F-102A "Delta Dagger"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
20. "Curtiss JN-4H". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
21. "Curtiss Oriole". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
22. "The Quick and the Old". StarTribune. 20 September 1995. p. E1. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
23. Cope, Lewis (27 September 1970). "Air Show Crash Injures 2 Men". Minneapolis Tribune. pp. 1A, 10A. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
24. "Minnesota Air Guard Museum Curtiss Oriole". Jeff Hove Software Consulting. Retrieved 6 February 2022. This is an older version of the museum website.
25. "Douglas C-47 "Skytrain"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
26. "F-16A "Fighting Falcon"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
27. "C-130A "Hercules"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
28. "Lockheed F-94C Starfighter". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
29. "Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
30. "F-4D "Phantom II"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
31. "McDonnell F-101B Voodoo". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
32. "RF-4C "Phantom II"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
33. "MiG-15 "Midget"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
34. "North American AT-6 Texan". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
35. "North American F-51 "Mustang"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
36. "North American T-28 "Trojan"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
37. "Northrop F-89H Scorpion". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
38. "L-4 "Grasshopper"". Minnesota Air National Guard Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2022.

External links

• Official website