Santa Maria Museum of Flight

In 1984, the idea of having a flight museum in Santa Maria was discussed by the Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce, to attract tourists to the area. In 1985 they began gathering money and planning where the museum would be located. In May of 1988, the mini-museum and gift shop were opened in the airport terminal. Today, the shop has displays of model airplanes to look at and gifts to buy. The gift shop is run by volunteers and is open 7 days a week.

In October of 1988, Flight Museum construction began at the new location. On July 21, 1990, the museum had its Grand Opening. There were five aircrafts on display, along with several display cases of souvenirs. Some of the airplanes were on loan and some were donated to the museum.

In 1992, an "Early Aviation Hangar" was moved to the new location on the airport, across from the existing museum. The building is the "Bigelow" building from the Disney movie "The Rocketeer".
The movie was filmed on airport property. Local people were hired to be in the crowd scenes of the movie. When all the construction is finished on this building it will add 4,500 square feet of display area to the museum.

The museum now has seven aircraft: Bowers Flybaby, Rand KR 2, Sonerii 2, 1929 Fleet Model 2, Stinson Reliant, Parker Sailplane and Jensen Hang Glider. The museum is managed and staffed by volunteers and is open Friday through Sunday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Private tours are also available.

The Museum of Flight and the Santa Maria Public Airport put on an airshow every year. At these shows they display several planes used in the war through today's passenger planes. Besides the planes, there are many gift booth displays that sell all sorts of gadgets and gifts related to flying. Delicious foods are found at many food booths at the show.