Military Aviation Museum
Military Aviation Museum
5
Military MuseumsSpeciality MuseumsHistory Museums
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Fun for the whole family!! The Military Aviation Museum is home to one of the largest flying collections of World War I and World War II era military aircraft in the world. More than 80,000 guests travel from around the world to see our rare aircraft every year, especially during our major events and air shows. Come see why the Military Aviation Museum is one of the top attractions in all of Virginia Beach - rain or shine! Have you imagined yourself in the open-air cockpit of a WWII biplane, with the wind in your face and the roar of the engine in your ears? At the Military Aviation Museum, you can turn your daydreams into reality!
Duration: 2-3 hours
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See what travellers are saying
  • Brian E
    Toronto, Canada2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Awesome Museum
    I and my family (wife and son) had a wonderful visit at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. Aside from enjoying the sights of vintage warplanes, we were so lucky to have Warren as our tour guide. He was so knowledgeable, hospitable, and helpful. He took pictures of us and gave us insightful answers to every question we had. We will definitely recommend this museum to our friends who will visit the area. Thank you, Warren, and all the staff at this awesome museum. This is by far our #1 attraction in Virginia Beach.
    Visited March 2023
    Written 18 March 2023
  • Chapman1995
    Naples, New York2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Excellent day with Lar!
    Our tour guide Lar was fantastic! He was so knowledgeable and we learned so much from him! Highly recommend a visit if you are in the area. His personal Navy stories are worth more than the price of admission. Next time we hope to visit when the planes are flying!
    Visited April 2023
    Written 19 April 2023
  • Jeanne M
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Cool museum!
    A wonderful museum to see - amazing planes and such fascinating history. All of the volunteers were extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Our tour guide Warren took the time to bring the stories to life. Highly recommend to all, families and couples and solo visitors.
    Visited April 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 24 April 2023
  • Diana D
    6 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great aviation collection
    A great lesson in WW1 aviation and WW11 German aircraft. The docent (Tim Leighton) was very knowledgable and friendly. He told a story and didn't just recite facts. The docents are all former military so they have credibility behind them. Great gift shop too. Be sure to do the guided tour - it doesn't cost more and it's well worth the time.
    Visited May 2023
    Written 3 May 2023
  • Kedra F
    Tiffin, Ohio1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    I highly recommend visiting and taking the guided tour
    Visited the Military Aviation Museum today. We took the guided tour. When we arrived, a tour was just leaving. They told us the next tour would be an hour and a half. We didn't know if we would still be there by the time the next tour started. Surprisingly we only had to wait 20 minutes after we walked through the hangers you could do the self guided tour. The tour felt like it was over once it began. Warren was our tour guide. He is well informed and very knowledgeable. He explained things very well and was entertaining. By the time we left, we had been there for 3 hours.
    Visited June 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 7 June 2023
  • AJ D
    2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    An Amazing experience!
    We stopped in for a visit and we were amazed with the facility and number of planes and antiques. The tour guides and volunteers are very knowledgeable and friendly. We were lucky to get Warren for our guide. They have multiple hangars of planes from WW1 and WW2. The have US, Soviet and German planes. They also have a German V2 rocket and enigma machine! We spent 3 hours there and could have easily spent more time. The best part is that most of these planes are still flying. Looking forward to going back and seeing these planes in the air.
    Visited July 2023
    Written 14 July 2023
  • D&CMato67
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Loved the Military Aviation Museum!
    The volunteers at the Military Aviation Museum are very knowledgeable and informative and excited to share their wealth of information with you. The museum has an excellent variety of military planes in their various hangers (Navy, Army, German, etc.). Very clean, well kept and beautiful property. They even have a small outdoor “dinosaur” park at the entrance for kids. Great experience for kids and adults alike!
    Visited July 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 19 July 2023
  • Renee H
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    The staff is amazing
    Just loved the visit. A retired pilot ( Lars Stampe) told us so many nice stories with each planes, he made the visit much more enjoyable and interesting. There’s a lot of different planes to see, each with a tremendous backstory, and I was surprised by the role women played in the Great World Wars as bomber and stunt pilots. Merci beaucoup pour la belle expérience!
    Visited August 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 8 August 2023
  • francoisdunn
    Blainville, Canada2 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Awesome experience
    The exhibits look great and so do planes. We were greeted by a truly nice tour guide who just started to tell us great war stories and lots of fun facts about the planes, the motors and much more. Then he tagged along for most of the tour and gave us so much more information than we would have gotten by just reading the information posters next to each plane. We had an awesome experience because of M. Lar Stampe. Merci beaucoup M. Stampe for a tour we will remember all our lives.
    Visited August 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 8 August 2023
  • Millie R
    6 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Signs?
    This place is AMAZING! Almost all of their aircraft are flyable and they fly them at air shows. Not only that, they don't rope or fence them off so you can get as close to them as you want (but don't touch! Understandably, they don't like that). We were even able to stand up inside the bomb bay of one of the bombers! Most airplane museums have signs describing the plane you can't get close to, so you look, read and then move on to the next one, but the volunteers here make this place what it is. The volunteers were so friendly and knowledgeable. They told us stories about the planes and really made the place come alive for us. Plan to spend 2-3 hours here to take it all in, including several buildings used during WWII that were relocated to the museum. There was one curious (and not in a good way) thing we noted. Not every plane had a sign telling us what is was or used for. There was one plane that didn't have a sign and a docent told us that it was a Jenny that was over 100 years old. When we asked about the sign, he just kind of shrugged and said he didn't know why it didn't have one. There was also a great big red and blue two-engine biplane with no sign telling us what it was. The one docent in that part of the museum was busy answering other visitor questions and our time was running short so we never found out. The really curious one was a video of a deep sea wreck next to the Wright Flyer. No explanation. But this was a minor thing compared to the rest of the experience.
    Visited August 2023
    Travelled with family
    Written 14 August 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles1,450 reviews
Excellent
1,214
Very good
195
Average
26
Poor
3
Terrible
12

Pablo A
2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Couples
Located about 30 minutes south of the center of Virginia Beach, this impressive museum contains over 70 vintage aircraft (most are still flying) in several large hangars. Our guided tour was terrific — interesting and quite comprehensive. Also onsite are buildings from England and Germany that were deconstructed then rebuilt in Virginia Beach.
Written 13 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Elizabeth M
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Friends
This was such a great experience! Warren was an absolutely wonderful guide and was very knowledgeable. Next time we are in town, we will be visiting again because of how wonderful it was. So much to learn!
Written 9 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ilse M
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
Excellent! Highly recommend spending time in this museum….learned a great deal and thoroughly enjoyed Warren’s explanations and back stories of what we were seeing.
Written 29 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

GlobeTrotting579347
8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Couples
Great history lesson! We arrived in time to attend one of the guided tours....Warren was wonderful! A very knowledgeable and personal gentleman.
Written 22 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Valerie
8 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Friends
Incredible tour! Not just facts, the docent (Lar Stampe) that escorted us through the museum knew his stuff. But the best part was the history, the stories of the various airplanes. That made the tour spectacular. Model blah blah, built in ####…. Meh! Instead, we got stories, such as the type of aircraft George H.W. Bush flew to bomb the communications facility next to Iwo Jima so we could capture that strategic island. Wow!
Written 10 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Becky M
19 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Family
We had a wonderfully informative and interesting tour with docent Lar Stampe. He shared so much history with us. There is so much to see. This is a museum for both young and old. I highly recommend this museum for locals and tourists.
Written 9 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

brutus313
Virginia Beach, VA80 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Couples
Best kept secrete in Virginia Beach. This plane museum is just far enough off the beach front that you may miss it, but well worth the trip to the pongo area. All the guides/docents are super knowledgeable and informative about the exhibits. Staff is VERY Helpful and Friendly. Give your self a couple hours to take it all in and for sure dont miss out on an event they may be hosting. I would definitely go back!!
Written 27 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

RobM7812
Brighton, UK5 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Friends
We visited the museum last Thursday afternoon. What a fantastic collection. We hadn't been quite sure what to expect before visiting but found a collection of 30+ WW1 and WW2 aircraft across 4 hangers alonside an airfield control tower oved brick by brick from England. Give yourself plenty of time to visit (at least a couple of hours). The main museum hangers are open for self guided tours, the 2 remote hangers containing the WW1 collection and the German WW2 aircraft are accessed via regular guided tours. The majority of Aircraft are maintained in flying condition and several saw active service. A special shout out for the Volunteers that staff the museum. We spoke to a number during our visit. They were all extremely knowledgable, friendly and enthusiastic, take advantage and get the stories they can tell about the aircraft. Our tour of the hangers and Tower was guided by Jack who was excellent. Thank you all for a great afternoon.

Written 21 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

eric c
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Business
Amazing tour whit great people how know a lot about their history!!!Most of their aircraft are replica that are functional and accurate!!! Great place to spend your day !!!
Written 11 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nancy T
Turkey, NC3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Family
There is so much history here! Lots of volunteers with lots of stories! We couldn’t see everything so will definitely need to go again!
Written 6 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach

Frequently Asked Questions about Military Aviation Museum

Military Aviation Museum is open:
  • Sun - Sat 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM