Military Aviation Museum
The Military Aviation Museum is a nonprofit aviation museum located in the Pungo district of Virginia Beach, Virginia, situated on a privately operated grass airfield known as Virginia Beach Airport (FAA identifier 42VA). The museum is home to the world's largest collection of airworthy vintage military aircraft. It houses one of the world's largest private collections of warbirds in flying condition, with examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, representing both World War I and World War II. The museum opened in 2008 and attracts more than 85,000 visitors annually. The museum's expansive campus features original structures from historic battlefields, a grass runway, cavernous hangars, and state-of-the-art maintenance and restoration facilities, earning it the informal moniker "Warbird Heaven."
History and Founding
The origins of the Military Aviation Museum trace back to 1994, when Gerald Yagen and his wife, Elaine, attended an Aerostar owner's convention. Yagen, founder of several aviation maintenance schools, was a long-time general aviation pilot, but a 1940s-themed dance at the convention sparked an interest in acquiring a vintage military aircraft. In the fall of 1994, the Yagens traveled to Canada to attend the annual convention for fellow Aerostar aircraft owners, where a dinner-dance was held against a backdrop of many historic, former military aircraft in the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's hangar at Mount Hope, near Hamilton, Ontario.
Yagen's first aircraft acquisition was a Curtiss P-40E, discovered frozen in the tundra near the Arctic Circle in Russia. After its recovery in 1992, Yagen bought the airframe three years later with plans to restore and fly the old warbird. The Germans had shot down this particular airplane while it was protecting the far northern seaport of Murmansk. The P-40 had been built in 1941, originally sent to England, and later assigned to the Soviet Air Force in Murmansk, where it was lost in action. It was discovered on the ice in the 1990s, returned to flying condition, and fully restored in 2003.
The formal process of establishing the Military Aviation Museum began in 2006, when Elaine Yagen encouraged her husband to make his personal collection of aircraft available to the general public. While the collection had begun as a group of personal airplanes, Elaine was moved by the interactions she observed when traveling with Jerry in the P-40, watching people approach the airplane, take an interest in the history, or share a family connection to someone who had served in World War II — making it clear that these historic airplanes were too important to be kept in a private hangar.
The museum was formally founded by Gerald "Jerry" Yagen in 2005, and the museum's hangars were opened to the public in 2008. David Hunt became the museum's first director in 2008, when the collection consisted of 27 airplanes and one hangar. By the time Hunt retired in 2014, it had grown to more than 70 aircraft and five hangars.
Yagen, who began collecting planes in the 1990s, is also the founder of the Aviation Institute of Maintenance and Centura College, which operates more than 20 colleges nationwide. These schools served as the economic engine that enabled Yagen to create the Military Aviation Museum.
In October 2024, Yagen formalized the museum's future with a landmark donation. The Military Aviation Museum received a $100 million donation from Yagen, believed to be among the largest charitable gifts from an individual in Virginia history. The donation includes some 70 vintage military aircraft collected and displayed over the years, the land upon which the museum was built, the historic buildings relocated there from sites around the world, and $30 million to establish the museum's endowment. The gift was announced during the Warbirds Over the Beach air show hosted by the museum.
Aircraft Collection
The collection contains aircraft ranging from the 1910s to the early 1950s. Located in Virginia Beach, the Military Aviation Museum is home to one of the world's largest collections of flying vintage military aircraft, with a purpose-built airport facility that includes over 50 aircraft from the World War I and World War II era.
The aircraft in the collection span the first 50 years of aviation history, from just after the Wright Brothers made the first flight in 1903 to the Korean War period in the early 1950s. They include such historically significant examples as a North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, the Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, and a rare, restored World War II German Messerschmitt Bf 109, all of which are used by the museum to share aviation and military history with the public.
Noteworthy items from the collection also include a de Havilland Mosquito (a plane primarily made of wood) and a Messerschmitt Me 262 (the world's first jet-powered fighter plane). While World War II is at the heart of the collection, the museum is also home to Korean War-era aircraft such as an AD Skyraider, as well as an impressive collection of World War I-era replicas and originals.
The World War I and German hangars are located some distance from the main building. Periodic tours are given, with guides assembling a group and narrating the exhibits. The World War I hangar houses approximately 20 aircraft, most of which are replicas, since planes of that vintage were mostly made of wood and cloth and not many original examples survived.
The collection also includes both a reference library and artifacts and materials to illustrate the historic context of the aircraft on display. While the planes are the focal point, the museum integrates a variety of other artifacts, uniforms, engines, and historical displays that provide context, including exhibits detailing the lives of pilots, the role of women in the war effort, and the technological innovations that influenced aircraft design.
The Fighter Factory and Restoration
Associated with the museum is an aircraft restoration and maintenance organization called The Fighter Factory, which started in 1996 to restore the collection's first aircraft, the P-40E. It was originally located at Norfolk Airport and later moved to premises at the Suffolk Municipal Airport in Suffolk, Virginia. It currently operates two facilities: one in Suffolk and a newer facility in a purpose-built hangar at the museum.
A skilled team of mechanics employed at the Fighter Factory, the museum's on-field maintenance facility, maintain the aircraft in airworthy condition, and dedicated volunteer pilots give their time to conduct demonstration flights. Many early aircraft used fabric covers, a process replicated during restoration, after which the aircraft is painted in its historically accurate livery, complete with squadron markings, kill tallies, and nose art based on thorough research. Once assembled, the aircraft undergoes rigorous ground tests, followed by flight testing by experienced warbird pilots, and must then be certified by aviation authorities to ensure it is safe and legal to fly.
The museum is also connected to the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, which is building a small fleet of various World War I replicas as an exercise for students to add to the museum's collection. The current batch includes a Morane Saulnier AI, a Nieuport 11, a Nieuport 17, a Nieuport 24, a Sopwith Pup, a Sopwith Camel, a Sopwith 1½ Strutter, and a de Havilland D.H.2.
In 2025, the museum achieved a notable restoration milestone with the first post-restoration flight of its Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter on May 5, marking the revival of a rare World War II variant not flown since 1945.
Historic Structures
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Military Aviation Museum is its collection of authentic World War II-era structures, physically transported from their original locations in Europe and reconstructed on the Virginia Beach campus.
The "Cottbus" Hangar houses a large number of German aircraft. The hangar itself is historic, being an original German hangar relocated from the Cottbus Army Airfield near Berlin. Built in 1934 and designated Hangar 6 at Cottbus, it was used for storage and some manufacturing during the war. It was damaged in an 8th Air Force attack near the end of the war and most likely rebuilt by Polish forced labor — the inscription "Anusia Waclaw Worked Here, 10.14.1944" can still be clearly seen on one of the beams. The museum purchased the hangar in 2004 after the base was closed during the reunification of Germany. It was dismantled and shipped to Virginia Beach, with construction starting in 2010 and finishing in the fall of 2012.
Also on the grounds is the control tower — known as a "watch office" by the British — of the first American airbase in England during World War II. The Royal Air Force base was built in 1940 and located in Goxhill, England, about 200 miles outside of London. In 1942, it was turned over to the United States Army Air Force in a ceremony involving General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The two-story brick and concrete structure was completely disassembled from its original site in the UK and shipped to Virginia, with reassembly completed in 2018. In the UK, some similar towers are now historically protected; this is the only such original control tower in the United States.
In the process of creating the museum, Yagen also moved a 1937 checkered water tower from Kentucky as part of the fire suppression system. The complex includes a large orange and white checkered water tower, which is visible from a considerable distance and provides a useful landmark for both ground and air travelers.
Events and Visitor Experience
The museum's commitment to keeping vintage aircraft airworthy culminates in several signature annual events, including the Summer of Flight (May–October), Flying Proms (June), and Warbirds Over the Beach (October), drawing audiences from around the globe. Attendees can witness historic planes in action from the flight line or the air-conditioned Warbird Observation Deck.
The Warbirds Over the Beach air show is the museum's premier two-day event featuring rare World War II aircraft. The weekend includes a large living history encampment, armored vehicles, weapons demonstrations, vintage vocal performances, a kids' Exploration hangar, food trucks, and some of the rarest World War II aircraft in the world, all flying from the museum's scenic grass runway. The event also serves as the nonprofit museum's largest fundraiser, supporting the maintenance of its collection and the expansion of its educational programming.
After seeing the Flying Proms concept at the Shuttleworth Collection in England, Yagen helped launch a similar program in Virginia. In 2011 it was inaugurated as the first American Flying Proms, and it has continued as an annual June event, running alongside Warbirds Over the Beach.
Visitors have praised the docent-led tours of the hangars, which are covered by the entrance fee, as a highlight of any visit. For an additional charge, travelers can go for a ride in one of the aircraft, though these flights start at around $175 per person for a 15-minute ride and are typically available only between May and September or October.
Yagen lengthened the original 3,000-foot runway — still composed entirely of grass — to 5,007 feet. The grass runway is well suited to old military aircraft, including a Vickers Supermarine Spitfire, a FG-1D Corsair, and a P-51 Mustang. There is also a dinosaur park at the entrance to the museum, which is free and open to the public.