The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and area museum in the Seattle city. It lies at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, right away south of Seattle. [5] It was developed in 1965 and is completely certified by the American Alliance of Museums. As the biggest personal air and area museum on the planet, it also hosts big K-12 curricula. [6]
The museum draws in over 500,000 visitors every year, [2] and also serves more than 140,000 students every year through its onsite programs: a Challenger Learning Center, an Aviation Learning Center, and a summertime camp (ACE), along with outreach programs that take a trip throughout Washington and Oregon. [7]
History

The Museum of Flight can trace its roots back to the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation, which was founded in 1965 to recover and bring back a 1929 Boeing 80A-1, which had actually been found in Anchorage, Alaska. The restoration occurred over a 16-year period, and after conclusion, was put on screen as a focal point for the museum. In 1968, the name “Museum of Flight” initially appeared in usage in a 10,000 sq ft (900 m2) facility, leased at the Seattle Center. Planning began at this time for a more permanent structure, and initial ideas were drafted. [8]
In 1975, The William E. Boeing Red Barn was acquired for one dollar from the Port of Seattle, which had taken belongings of it after Boeing deserted it throughout The second world war. The 1909 all-wooden Red Barn, the original home of the company, was barged 2 miles (3 km) up the Duwamish River to its existing place at the southwestern end of Boeing Field. [9] [10] Fundraising was slow in the late 1970s, [11] and after restoration, the two-story Red Barn was opened to the public in 1983. [12]
That year a financing project was launched, so capital could be raised for building of the T.A. Wilson Great Gallery. In 1987, Vice President George Bush, signed up with by four Mercury astronauts, cut the ribbon to open the center on July 10, [12] [13] [14] with an extensive volume of 3,000,000 cubic feet (85,000 m3). The gallery’s structure is integrated in a space frame lattice structure and holds more than 20 hanging aircraft, including a Douglas DC-3 weighing more than nine loads. [8]
The museum’s education programs grew significantly with the building of a Challenger Learning Center in 1992. This interactive display permits trainees to experience a Space Shuttle mission. It consists of a mock-up NASA mission control, and experiments from all areas of area research.

Completed in 1994, the 132-seat Wings Cafe and the 250-seat Skyline multipurpose banquet and meeting room increased the museum’s footprint to 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2). At the very same time, among the museum’s most widely recognized and popular artifacts, the Lockheed M-21, a customized Lockheed A-12 Oxcart designed to bring the Lockheed D-21 reconnaissance drones, [15] was placed on the flooring at the center of the Great Gallery, after being completely brought back. [16]
The very first jet-powered Flying force One (1959-1962, SAM 970), a Boeing VC-137B, was flown to Boeing Field in 1996