Western Museum of Flight

This is great for kids and plane enthusiasts (and Northrop Grumman enthusiasts as well)!
Press 111 at the gate and the staff will let you in. Took us a moment to realize that was the entrance.
For a 5 $ tip/​donation, you get to see the history of aviation that took place in Torrance! Awesome selection of model planes to purchase, also a decent selection of used aviation books (again, perfect for the aviation enthusiast, or if you’re looking for a gift for said enthusiast). They have a very extensive library of aviation books, so if you’re in the need to do research this would be a good place to start.
There are two aircraft you can sit in and take photos, plenty of displays and models everywhere. Took lots of pictures, lots to read and learn about, and the friendly staff can tell you even more.
It is windy though, so bring a sweater or jacket. But if they close the hanger doors it’s not bad. But the lighting is soo much better with the hanger doors open, so be prepared. :)

This is great for kids! Once you get there, press 111 at the gate and the person working there will let you inside.
Lots of aerial stuff on display. You can actually go into one of the airplanes as well.
They have benches behind the hanger where you can sit and watch the planes take off and land. My daughter enjoyed this very much!
Make sure you tip $ 5, kids under 12 for free.

Great little aviation museum off the beaten path. The curators are all ex military or aviation types and are quite knowledgeable. The have a rotating guest lecture series that while we were unable to attend looks fantastic. We arrived close to closing but they were still willing to give us a private tour of the YF-​23 that was temporarily located on the other side of the airfield. Its not going to be a huge location like the MOF in Seattle of Pima, but the volunteers working there more than make up for it. Really worth the trip.

had a great time! it’s a bit small, but my son had a great time. he’s 2 and got to get into one of the planes all by himself. the docent who showed us the jet was very pleasant and we talked for a while, and he didn’t bat an eyelash when my son needed to nurse. my son loved seeing the planes take off and land, too. i don’t think it would be all that great without a child in tow, but with a child in tow it’s totally worth it.

It’s a great little flight museum. My 2-​year-​old loves it. He can sit in two cockpits and pretend to fly.

I took my 2 ½ year old here and he loved it. The people who work here are super nice and we will be returning very soon. The employees definitely go above and beyond!

This is a south bay gem, they have all kind of interesting things, as well as a very rare prototype aircraft! Everyone was very informative and helpful, and guess what the prices weren’t even jacked up in the gift shop, everything was actually a decent price! My wife and son and I had a great time looking at all the planes and memorabilia. My biggest complaint was that it was just a little small, that’s it.

I’ve lived and worked in the area for years and didn’t know about this place until very recently.
It’s a tiny museum housed in one of the hangars at Torrance airport.
I’m hard to please. I’d expected dozens of planes on site but I only saw three. Two of which I can climb into and play with the controls.
I enjoyed the hands-​on experience but I wished they had more planes to justify the $ 5 donation for admission.
FYI, this place is had to find. It’s located next to the General Aviation Center and you’d have to be buzzed in to enter the museum. Staff members were friendly.

We were there only a few minutes because my Android phone GPS voice was lying to me. She kept giving me false directions. I hate her so much.
In any case, I finally stumbled up on the museum. I was thoroughly confused for a moment on how to get in and then I saw the tiny sign above the gate. You have to dial the museum and get buzzed in.
The museum is just one hangar. The doors that open out to the tarmac are huge and cool, not your typical slide over doors, these fold up.
There were a few full sized planes on display. One of the planes you can actually climb into the cockpit. I am way too fat for that, but my niece did climb up there. You could see the joy in her eyes. Why does she want to bomb people all the time? Perhaps she needs mental health support.
Multiple drone planes are on display, hanging over your head or on displays on the floor. There were a few pieces about space rockets. There was a nice little library tucked in one corner. There was even a small gift shop. I gave a nice donation, considering we weren’t there for even 20 minutes.
It is very small. We had just come from Flight Path, which looks tiny but is actually huge. This place looks enormous on the outside but it is compact on the inside.
I liked being able to step outside and see planes on a tarmac. There was a gentleman working on his little prop plane, right outside the entrance to the museum.
Cute place.

You can climb up and sit in a real Jet! That alone is 4 starts.
The home for Western Museum of Flight is a portion of a hanger, clean and easy to find and walk around inside. What it lacks in museum pieces it makes up in charm. Small and modest, I think it’s run by volunteers (bless them) and the cost to enter is a «donation» of $ 5.
I was stunned to see a ladder pulled up to one of the Northrop F5 sitting in the middle of the museum. Without hesitation, I climbed up there and … I don’t care if the F5 was a worthless fighter, it was a super cool feeling to sit there and imagine what it’s like fly.
I very much looking forward to returning when the Museum hosts one of its guest speakers. The intimacy of the place would make it a great venue for a speaker. He may have a podium but won’t need a microphone and amplifier.

Can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun in any museum!
The Museum of Flight is housed in a couple of hangars next to the entrance to Zamperini Field, easy to miss. In fact I parked in the wrong lot & had to wander across a lawn to find the museum (which was relocated from Hawthorne Airport a few years back).
Planes are buzzing everywhere overhead as you roam the museum. On this beautiful day today, now I want to go flying! I think this is a great place for kids to learn about aviation history. Adults donate 5 bucks to get in, but for kids under 12 it’s free.
My 5 bucks bought me a guided tour that was awesome.
Where to begin…
How ’bout with the cool yellow Stearman that once belonged to Steve McQueen? I knew he was into motorcycles but never knew he was a pilot.
Then there’s the YF-​23, sitting outside next to the museum space. It’s one of 2 prototypes that were built, by Northrop & by Lockheed. My guide told me the two competed in a fly-off…Lockheed won.
Then I saw a Pratt & Whitney 3800hp engine, the exact engine used on the Howard Hughes «Spruce Goose». Nicknamed «the corn cob», it looks like a giant sculpture to me.
Then there was this thing called «the Bat», from 1943. Evidently, the plan was to fly it by remote… with its pods filled with dynamite. Crikey. My guide explained that it was never used because the war ended.
I inquired about an old glider suspended from the hangar ceiling. It’s a replica of a glider flown near San Diego in 1883, before the Wright Brothers.
At this point in my tour I suspect my guide might have become sick of me saying, «Wow!»
And what was that cute red drone up there, hanging from the ceiling? A 1940 target drone, my guide told me, used by the Air Force for target practice. He said that, before she was «discovered», Marilyn Monroe worked in a factory that built those things. Wow!
I saved the best for last:
«You can sit in that old fighter plane if you want», said my guide.
I climbed the narrow ladder, glad I hadn’t eaten lunch yet because that cockpit was a tight fit.
What was that yellow handle next to my seat? Well, if the pilot got into trouble, pulling that thing would cause the cockpit cover to fly off, the seat would eject, and the parachute-​wearing pilot would be jolted outta there. Holy crap!
A pilot actually demonstrated this at some exhibition in 2004, a photo of which is in the museum.
I ain’t that brave! What a rush that must have been, wow!
This story ends as it began: I want to go flying! (Hopefully without ejecting from the aircraft.)
As soon as time permits, I’m heading back to Torrance airport, camera in hand, for a helicopter ride. That’s gonna be one helluva review.

This is a small little aviation museum by the Zamperini airfield in Torrance. Very easy to miss. However, I decided to stop by as I was doing some research on jets – I’m a graphic artist and I needed to take some reference photos of real planes so I won’t worry about copyright issues by using photos on the web.
And, I recently read «Unbroken» by Lauren Hillenbrand, an autobiography about the WWII pilot /​POW Louis Zamperini (which the airfield is named after), which got me even more interested about the subject.
I also came to sketch a bit.
Once you enter through the metal gate, you’ll notice that one of the hangars is the museum itself, with various planes, jets, and satellites on display or hanging from the ceiling. Two of the bigger planes inside when I was there was the F-​86 Saber Jet and the F-​5A Jet, latter of which you can actually sit inside the cockpit. The running joke here is that «you can sit inside the jet plane, but if you decide to fly it, you’re paying for the gas.» (Note: the jet plane is just a display)
There are various drone planes and bombs and such. Outside, there was the YF-​23A, which was a prototype stealth jet from the early 90’s.
If you are into planes and military jets, this place is a nice little museum to stop by and see it up close. The staff is very friendly and you can really get into conversations about the planes with them if you’re into that stuff. One of the staff actually worked on the YF-​23A stealth jet back in the day, so I was able to ask him many naïve questions about why certain parts were designed a certain way.
This small museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10am till 3pm. The admission fee is $ 5.

This is a great little know aviation museum in the South Bay. Every month they have a speaker and are very interesting. Speakers range from Aces to aircraft designers to history makers. They also have the only YF-​23 prototype on the West Coast. They other one is in the Air Force Museum in OH. Granted its not the biggest but offers alot to visitors and usally had a local warbird on display.

This is a gem of an aviation museum. It’s small but has unique items, especially for Northrop interests. There’s a YF-​23 wind tunnel model (normally the actual YF-​23 ship is on display, but it’s on loan to Northrop in El Segundo), and some mockups of the Northrop (with BAe and McDonnell Douglas) JSF proposal. These are in the hangar, which also has an impressive aviation library. Any aviation history reader knows that you don’t have to venture far before wandering into out-​of-​print territory. They have multiple editions All the World’s Aircraft, many issues of International Air Power review, and various obscure books on aerospace history. There’s the F-​5A that you can sit in, a P-​51D, a YF-​17 Cobra (precursor to the F/​A-​18, competed against the General Dynamics YF-​16 and picked up by the Navy), and an F-​14A. Some nifty stuff for its small size.
Admission is a «recommended» $ 5 donation, but it’s for a good cause.

If you’re like myself and a fan of historical plane memorabilia and aviation history, you should check out this museum. I’d recommend you check out their website before you visit if you want to make sure a specific plane is on display and not being refurbished somewhere else.
I went today and was disappointed to not find their P-​51 or YF-​23 on display. But the other planes quickly made me happy that I went and made my $ 5 donation. For example, I saw a F5-​A (and climbed into the cockpit), a replica of the 1883 Montgomery glider, and 1 of 3 JB-​1 «Bats» known to be left in the world.
It was also cool to see on display a BD-​5 micro plane (the one in the James Bond movie «Octopussy») and F86 Sabre jet bomber.
There’s also missle drones on display like the RP-​76, and NASA space probes, the Pioneer 1 and 5, hanging from the ceiling.
If you have the time, check out their library of books. You could easily spend hours combing through their collection of vintage books.
I posted pictures.

«Look, up in the sky!»
«It’s a bird!»
«It’s a plane!»
«Yes, it’s a plane, Sparky.»
I attended the Grand Opening of this Air Museum and because I was invited by an elder docent, I actually met with John Northrop and scads of pilots, gunners, dreamers and those that love them. There were also some local and state politicians all looking for the best photo op but I didn’t bother shaking their hands as I was eating a sandwich and I didn’t want to get any more grease on my pulled pork. They had dozens and dozens of fighter aircraft, most representing WWII and I was allowed the thrill of sitting in the driver’s seat of several of them. Actually, I think they allowed me to do this so they could look down my blouse but whatever, I’m not shy, why should they be?
I’ve posted some photos and brochures as well as the announcement so you’ll get an idea of the types of aircraft on display and it was all very impressive a showing for the South Bay. I’ve seen the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum as well as the air museums in Dayton and Warner-​Robins and this is but a mini-​version of these great halls… but it’s all ours, in our own backyard.
And while I was all agog with the big guns and stuff, what made it all very special for me was talking with the heroes who flew in those big sitting ducks… the B-​17 Flying Fortress. Unable to maneuver or avoid doodly-​Nazi-​squat, they had to remain in their assigned positions (peeing streams, no doubt) while German fighters shot them up with machine gun and cannon fire. That had to be the most terrifying of experiences but amazingly, these guys maintain the best of humor. I guess you’d have to after staring death in the face for 40 missions, if you lasted that long.
So if you want to take the kiddies (or daddy) out for a cool day of «Oohs» and «Aahs», this is a great venue at the cheap (zip for kids, $ 5 for adults). And here’s a little Top Secret planning recommendation… eat before getting here. The caterer used today needed to do a much better job… like get some help!

This «blink-and-you’ll-miss-it» museum is on a exterior corner of the Hawthorne Airport at Jack Northrop Field, named after the founder of Northrop Aircraft.
It’s not the best laid-​out or maintained museum. The last time I was there, most of the exhibits were somewhat organized in the interior of an unused hangar. The display aircraft sit on the tarmac outside, making this a less-​than-​desirable destination in inclement weather.
They’re strictly cash-​only and have weird hours — check them on
. However, considering the rough neighborhood, perhaps it’s better that they’re not open later in the evening.
So what makes this place worth 4-​stars? For Northrop warbird (military plane) fans, this place is THE destination for B-​2 memorabilia and souvenirs. Additionally, this is the only place I know of where civilians can see a YF-​23 Black Widow — the prototype for the F-​22 Raptor — up-​close and personal. Sure, it’s been demilitarized by the removal of engines and avionics (what, you thought they were going to give rides in it?) but it’s still cool to see.