The Valiant Air Command began in 1977 when seventeen aviation enthusiasts, veterans, and pilots pooled their passion for historic aircraft into a 501(c)(3) educational organization. They set up shop at Space Coast Regional Airport in Brevard County, just south of Titusville, and began collecting warbirds that might otherwise have been scrapped or forgotten. The location was no accident. Titusville sits in the shadow of Kennedy Space Center, a town accustomed to machines that push the boundaries of flight. The museum grew steadily, building a 30,000-square-foot hangar with an active restoration area where volunteers strip corroded skin from fuselages and coax old engines back to life. A Memorabilia Hall houses flight gear, dress uniforms, weapons, and personal artifacts donated by the veterans and families who trusted these strangers with their memories.

TICO Belle's combat record reads like a summary of the Allied air war in Europe. After her D-Day drops, she flew into southern France during Operation Dragoon in July 1944, delivered troops to Holland for Operation Market Garden in September, supported the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December, and crossed into Germany during Operation Varsity in March 1945. Her D-Day crew was young even by wartime standards: pilot First Lieutenant Jay Bloch was 26, co-pilot Second Lieutenant Oscar Hill was 25, crew chief Staff Sergeant John Quinn was 21, and radio operator Private First Class J.D. Calhoun was 20. After the war, the C-47 stayed in Europe through the Berlin Airlift before passing to the Royal Norwegian Air Force and eventually the Royal Danish Air Force, which used her as a VIP transport. She came home to the Valiant Air Command in 1988 and returned to flying status in July 2009 after recovery from an accident.

The museum's collection spans the entire arc of military aviation. A replica of the 1907 Epps Monoplane represents the earliest days of powered flight. A de Havilland Tiger Moth and Piper L-4J Grasshopper recall the trainer and liaison aircraft of the Second World War, while a Douglas SBD Dauntless -- the dive bomber that turned the tide at Midway -- represents naval aviation's finest hour. The jet age fills the hangar with Cold War muscle: an F-86 Sabre from Korea, an F-100D Super Sabre that defined the Century Series, an F-8K Crusader that served aboard carriers, and a General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon. Rotary wing aircraft include a Bell H-13 Sioux, the iconic Korean War helicopter, and a Bell UH-1 Iroquois -- the Huey -- that defined a generation's image of Vietnam. An English Electric Canberra and a Fouga Magister jet trainer add international flavor to the lineup.

The museum has never stopped expanding. In 2021, the Valiant Air Command launched a four-phase plan to enlarge its facilities. On October 11, 2025, the museum opened the 20,000-square-foot Lt. Cmdr. Stockton N. Smith Center, a new hangar designed to host both aircraft displays and large events. The annual TICO Warbird Airshow, held at Space Coast Regional Airport each March since 1976, fills the sky with strafing runs, dogfights, skydiving, and flight demonstrations that draw crowds from across the Southeast. The museum itself remains a volunteer-driven operation, a testament to the particular stubbornness of people who believe old warplanes deserve better than a scrapyard. Each restored aircraft represents thousands of hours of donated labor, a community effort to keep these machines -- and the stories of the people who flew them -- from fading into silence.