Qualla: Air Mobility Command Museum

Air Mobility Command Museum: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Teamski1, CC BY-SA 4.0. It started with one airplane and ten years of work. In 1978, members of the 512th Military Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base picked a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress called Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby from a list the U.S. Air Force Museum had offered them, intending it as a public-relations and maintenance-training project. The original plan was to restore the bomber to airworthy condition and then fly it to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The restoration took a decade. By 1988 the bomber was airworthy. By then, the volunteers at Dover had realized that they had built something larger than a single airplane: they had built a community of people who knew how to restore vintage aircraft, and they did not want the project to end. Two more aircraft arrived. Then more. The Air Mobility Command Museum is what grew out of that one restoration project.

Image: Teamski1 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Air Mobility Command Museum: From One Hangar to Hangar 1301

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD, CC BY-SA 3.0. Colonel Walter Kross, commander of the 436th Military Airlift Wing, formally established the Dover AFB Historical Center on October 13, 1986. Three days later, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain - the workhorse military transport of World War II - was airlifted from Muir Army Airfield in Pe...

Image: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD | CC BY-SA 3.0

Air Mobility Command Museum: Every Lockheed Airlifter

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Teamski1, CC BY-SA 4.0. The collection's signature is its complete set of every significant Lockheed military airlifter used by the U.S. Air Force and Army since World War II. The Lockheed C-60 Lodestar, used in the war as a paratrooper transport. The Lockheed C-130E Hercules, the workhorse tactical tra...

Image: Teamski1 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Air Mobility Command Museum: The Heavy Iron Beyond Lockheed

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Teamski1, CC BY-SA 4.0. Beyond the Lockheed set, the museum holds a remarkable collection of heavy military transport aircraft. The Douglas C-124A Globemaster II, with its huge clamshell nose, was the largest American transport when it entered service in 1950. The Douglas C-133B Cargomaster carried Atla...

Image: Teamski1 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Air Mobility Command Museum: The Control Tower and the Fighter Aircraft

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Teamski1, CC BY-SA 4.0. The museum also holds the retired control tower cab from Dover AFB, which served the base from 1956 to 2009. The original tower stood 103 feet tall when it was operating. The cab now stands 39 feet at the museum, restored with its original 1960s-era radar consoles and radios. Vis...

Image: Teamski1 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Air Mobility Command Museum: The All-Volunteer Operation

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Teamski1, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Air Mobility Command Museum runs largely on volunteer labor. Active-duty Air Force personnel, retirees from the surrounding community, and aviation enthusiasts staff the museum's restoration shops, run the tours, and maintain the aircraft. The restoration program continues - ...

Image: Teamski1 | CC BY-SA 4.0