National WASP WWII Museum
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The National WASP World War II Museum is an aviation museum located at the
Avenger Field Avenger Field is a List of airports in Texas, Texas airport in Nolan County, Texas, Nolan County, three miles west of Sweetwater, Texas, Sweetwater. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 FAA airport categories, called ...
in
Sweetwater, Texas Sweetwater is a municipality in and the seat of Nolan County, Texas, United States. It is 123 miles southeast of Lubbock and 40 miles west of Abilene. Its population was 10,622 at the 2020 census. History The town's name "Sweetwater" is the ...
focused on
Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...
.


History

The museum was established in 2003 by Deanie Bishop Parrish and her daughter Nancy Parrish. It opened in a 1929 hangar in May 2005. A
PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contemp ...
was placed on loan to the museum in 2008. The museum announced plans for a exhibition hall on the north side of the hangar to improve artifact storage and increase display area in October 2014. The design eventually changed so that by the time it was dedicated in April 2017, the expansion had become an entirely separate building with an external appearance similar to the historic Hangar No. 1. Along with the completion of phase one of its development program, the museum hired a new executive director. Then, in December, a BT-13 was donated to the museum by the American Aviation Heritage Foundation. The museum closed for its phase two expansion – the addition of a welcome center, office space and the Catherine Vail Bridge Education Center – in November 2020. The museum acquired an AT-6 in 2023.


Collection

*
Cessna UC-78 Bobcat The Cessna AT-17 Bobcat or Cessna Crane is a twin-engine advanced trainer aircraft designed and made in the United States, and used during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engine trainers and larger multi-engine combat aircraft. The ...
* Curtiss-Wright CW-12Q *
North American AT-6D Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft, which was used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Ro ...
* Stearman PT-18 Kaydet *
Vultee BT-13A Valiant The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the ...


Events

The museum holds an annual Homecoming and Fly-In.


See also

*
Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is an aviation museum located at Amelia Earhart Airport in Atchison, Kansas focused on Amelia Earhart. History Background In 1979, Grace McGuire purchased a Lockheed 10-E from the Wings and Wheels Museum in ...
* International Women's Air & Space Museum * Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots


References


Footnotes


Notes


External links

* {{Official website, http://www.waspmuseum.org
Former official website (archived)
Aerospace museums in Texas Military and war museums in Texas