The Western Museum of Flight

The Western Museum of Flight in Torrance CA (formerly known as the Northrop Museum) is a popular destination for those interested in aviation history. Its exhibits include aircraft, engines, components, World War II instruments and aircrew accessories. Its collection also includes a YF-17 Cobra, which formed the basis for the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet currently used by the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

Located at Zamperini Field, the municipal airport in Torrance, it is operated by the Southern California Historical Aviation Foundation. It houses not only historic aircraft, many of which were built in Southern California, but also an extensive collection of historic photographs and blueprints.

It has a variety of aircraft on display including several rare jet-drive airplanes such as the first Northrop YF-17 Cobra and the second Northrop YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter 5th generation stealth fighter demonstrator. There are also a Grumman F-14 Tomcat and Douglas A-4A on display along with numerous other notable jet-drive and propeller-drive aircraft.

https://medium.com/@solidserviceswaterdamage.mkt/torrance-art-museum-ff0b898d168c

Another unique aspect of the Western Museum of Flight is its large collection of wind tunnel models and blueprints. The museum is open to the public and admission is free.

They have a lot of restored airplanes on display with an excellent docent team. You can sit in the cockpits of many different types of planes and there are some fun displays inside that kids will love. The museum has a wonderful selection of souvenirs to buy as well.

The docents are all former military or aviation industry people and they know their stuff! They give great tours and have a lot of great stories to tell. They will take you on a tour of all the planes and talk about all their history, they are truly passionate about their profession. They will not let you miss a thing!

One of the highlights for me was to see the YF-17 Cobra. It was the first aircraft to be produced as a lightweight fighter and it paved the way for the F-18. I have always been fascinated by this plane and the story of it, so I had to go and see it.

I went with my kids and we all had a great time. They loved the docents and the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of a plane. It was a good way to teach them about aviation and to spark their love for it.

You can learn about the Apollo program and about the harrier and test planes that were developed. You can see a real YF-17 and there is a small RF-5E Tiger II in the back which was built for the USAF's Lightweight Fighter Technology Evaluation Program.

There are many more airplanes to see here including the Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.4 RAF which is on loan from the California Science Center. They have an extensive collection of model airplanes and hundreds of plastic scale models as well.

They have a number of rare and interesting aircraft to see including the Northrop N-3PB which was a World War II single engine seaplane that is still in operation. The Northrop N-3PB was one of only 24 that were made.