Qualla: Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pacific Aviation Museum, CC BY 2.0. The bullet holes are still there. Look closely at the glass windows of Hangar 37 on Ford Island and you can count the punctures left by Japanese aircraft on the morning of December 7, 1941. The Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum chose not to replace them. Instead, it built an entire museum around them, turning a former seaplane hangar that survived the attack into a space where visitors walk among the very machines that shaped the Pacific war and the pilots who flew them.

Image: Pacific Aviation Museum | CC BY 2.0

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: From Airport Terminal to Ford Island

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pacific Aviation Museum, CC BY 2.0. The museum's origins trace to 1983, when the Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce pushed for an aviation museum to be housed inside Honolulu International Airport. That first iteration, the Pacific Aerospace Museum, opened in 1991 under founder Frank Der Yuen. Airport expansion plans for...

Image: Pacific Aviation Museum | CC BY 2.0

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: Ghosts in the Hangars

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Daniel Ramirez from Honolulu, USA, CC BY 2.0. Hangar 37, once a seaplane hangar, sprawls across 7.25 acres and houses nine exhibits, a movie theater, and flight simulators. The eleven-million-dollar renovation preserved the building's scars while creating a modern museum experience. Among the aircraft on display is a Japanes...

Image: Daniel Ramirez from Honolulu, USA | CC BY 2.0

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: The Tower That Sent the Warning

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pacific Aviation Museum, CC BY 2.0. Rising above the hangars, the Ford Island control tower holds a singular distinction: it was the location of the first radio alert during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Designated a national historic landmark since 1964 alongside the runway, the tower became a personal cause for Sen...

Image: Pacific Aviation Museum | CC BY 2.0

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: Teaching the Next Generation

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pacific Aviation Museum, CC BY 2.0. In 2012, the museum became a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, joining the network of museums that extend the Smithsonian's reach beyond Washington. By April 2013, it had welcomed its millionth visitor. But the museum's ambitions extend beyond tourism. Its education programs hav...

Image: Pacific Aviation Museum | CC BY 2.0