Aviation museums

Aeronauticum Nordholz

since 1997

The Aeronauticum in Nordholz is the German Airship and Naval Aviation Museum. Right outside the gate of Germany’s only naval air base, it tells the story of the Imperial Navy’s once-largest airship base and shows about 18 large naval aviation exhibits outdoors – from Sea Hawk and Gannet to Breguet Atlantic and Tornado to the P-3C Orion that rolled across a field into the museum in December 2025.

Cottbus Airfield Museum

since 1990

On the southern part of the former Cottbus-Nord airfield, an association shows almost 50 aircraft – mainly from the holdings of East Germany’s NVA, complemented by NATO types, vehicles and air defense equipment. The site is considered the cradle of the GDR air force and was an active military airfield until 2003.

Deutsches Museum München

since 1903

The Deutsches Museum on Munich’s Museum Island shows aviation in two large exhibitions: Historic Aviation up to 1945 with the Junkers F 13, Ju 52 and Me 262, and Modern Aviation since 1945 with the Starfighter, helicopters and the cockpit of a Boeing 707. Here you’ll learn what to expect – and why the Flugwerft Schleißheim is a destination of its own.

Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

since 1982

Above the Landwehr Canal in Kreuzberg, a Douglas C-47 hangs from the roof – the landmark of the Deutsches Technikmuseum. Inside, the exhibition “From Balloon to Airlift” tells the story of German aviation with more than 40 aircraft and large objects, from the Jeannin Stahltaube to the Ju 52 and the 1948/49 Airlift.

Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen

since 2009

The Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen tells the story of one of Germany’s most important aircraft builders – in a hangar right at Bodensee Airport. Originals like the Do 31, the Dornier 228 and the 328 stand next to replicas of the Wal and Merkur, plus satellites and space technology. From the terrace you look out over the apron.

Flugausstellung Hermeskeil

since 1973

The Flugausstellung Hermeskeil in the Hunsrück is one of Germany’s largest private aircraft collections. Since 1973 the Junior family has been gathering more than a hundred civil and military aircraft here – from the Lufthansa Super Constellation through the Comet and VC10 to MiGs from East German stocks. Right in the middle: a walk-in Concorde replica that houses the museum café.

Flugwerft Schleißheim

since 1992

Flugwerft Schleißheim is the aviation branch of the Deutsches Museum (Germany’s national museum of science and technology) north of Munich. On one of Germany’s oldest airfields, about 70 aircraft stand – from the Lilienthal glider through VTOL aircraft to the first Eurofighter prototype –, spread across historic buildings from 1912 to 1918 and a modern exhibition hall.

German Gliding Museum with Model Flight

since 1970

Gliding began as a sport on the Wasserkuppe in the Rhön – and that is exactly where the German Gliding Museum with Model Flight stands today. On about 4,000 m², it shows gliders from Lilienthal replicas to early plastic prototypes, plus a large model flight collection. Right next door, gliders, paragliders and hang gliders take off.

Helicopter Museum Bückeburg

since 1971

The Helicopter Museum Bückeburg is the only museum in Germany devoted exclusively to rotorcraft. In a Burgmannshof (a manor house of castle vassals) from 1463 and two extensions stand over 50 full-size helicopters, autogyros and oddities – from the replica of the 1907 Cornu helicopter to the CH-53G that has stood on the museum roof since June 2026.

Hugo Junkers Technical Museum Dessau

since 2001

On the grounds of the former Junkers aircraft works in Dessau stands a Ju 52 that sank in a Norwegian lake in 1940 and was recovered decades later. Around it, the Hugo Junkers Technical Museum shows replicas of the F 13 and J 1, engines, gliders, East German jets and the legacy of an inventor who built far more than aircraft.

Laatzen-Hannover Aviation Museum

since 1992

The Laatzen-Hannover Aviation Museum sits right next to the Hannover fairgrounds and tells the story of flight across about 3,500 square meters – from a Montgolfière model to the Starfighter. The centerpiece is three original World War II fighters: a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Supermarine Spitfire. Add replicas from the pioneer era, hundreds of models and a large engine collection.

Military History Museum Berlin-Gatow Airfield

since 1957

At the former air base and later RAF airfield Gatow in western Berlin, the Bundeswehr shows its air force collection: jets from NATO and the Warsaw Pact, helicopters, surface-to-air missiles and the history of an airfield that experienced the air warfare school, the Airlift and the Cold War. Admission is free.

Otto-Lilienthal-Museum Anklam

since 1991

Otto Lilienthal was born in Anklam in 1848 – and this is where the museum stands that shows his flying machines as replicas, documents his work and explains the pioneer era of aviation. There are also a large hang glider collection, the Aeronauticon at the airfield and the IKAREUM, taking shape in Lilienthal’s baptismal church.

Technik Museum Sinsheim

since 1981

Nowhere else do the world’s two supersonic airliners stand side by side: at the Technik Museum Sinsheim you climb aboard the Air France Concorde F-BVFB and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 on the hall roof. Add walk-through classics like the Ju 52, DC-3, Il-18 and Viscount – right on the A6 between Mannheim and Heilbronn.

Technik Museum Speyer

since 1991

The Technik Museum Speyer is one of the great destinations for aviation fans in Germany: here you climb into a former Lufthansa jumbo jet mounted about 20 meters above the ground, stand beneath the huge Antonov An-22 and look inside the Buran prototype OK-GLI in the space hall. Add the Liller Halle of 1913, where the Pfalz aircraft works once operated.

Wernigerode Aviation Museum

since 1999

The Wernigerode Aviation Museum on the northern edge of the Harz is a privately run museum with around 50 aircraft and helicopters in four hangars. Its landmark is a walk-through Transall C-160 on the hall roof, joined by a Junkers Ju 52 from Switzerland, jets from East and West, a dedicated helicopter hangar and simulators for flying yourself.

Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen

since 1996

The Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen presents the history of rigid airships in the former harbor station right on Lake Constance – with a walk-in partial reconstruction of the LZ 129 Hindenburg as its centerpiece. There is also industrial history, an art collection and a Zeppelin NT that flies over the lake in season.

Aviaticum Aviation Museum Wiener Neustadt

since 1999

At Wiener Neustadt/Ost airfield, where the first hangars were built in 1909 and Igo Etrich tested his aircraft, the Aviaticum tells Austrian aviation history: from balloons and the Etrich Taube through historic gliders to the lovingly rebuilt Me 109 G-6 and a large collection of engines.

Hangar-7 Salzburg

since 2003

Hangar-7 at Salzburg Airport is an exhibition hall, gourmet address and home of the Flying Bulls all at once. Under a glass dome stand flyable classics such as the former Tito DC-6B, a B-25J, a P-38 Lightning and a Corsair – with free admission and directly across from the observation deck.

Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf

since 1978

The Flieger-Flab-Museum at Dübendorf military airfield is the museum of the Swiss Air Force and air defense. Founded in 1978 from a collection in Hangar 13, it now shows more than 40 aircraft and helicopters – from the Blériot monoplane through the Bf 109, Hunter and Mirage to the F-5 Tiger, plus the only surviving FFA P-16 and the Ju 52 HB-HOP.

Swiss Museum of Transport Lucerne (Verkehrshaus)

since 1942

The Swiss Museum of Transport (Verkehrshaus) in Lucerne shows around 30 original aircraft in its Air and Space Hall – from the Dufaux 4 of the pioneer era and the only surviving Lockheed Orion to the Swissair Convair CV-990 Coronado at the entrance. Here you learn what to expect, how to plan your visit and how to combine it with spotting in Zurich.

Aviodrome Lelystad

since 1955

The Aviodrome in Lelystad is the Netherlands’ big aviation museum. Outside stands PH-BUK “Louis Blériot,” KLM’s last classic jumbo, which the museum bought in 2004 for a symbolic euro and which you can now tour inside. Inside await a Lockheed Constellation, an airworthy DC-2 in the colors of the legendary Uiver and a dense Fokker collection – right next to Lelystad Airport.

Nationaal Militair Museum Soesterberg

since 2014

Where Dutch military aviation began in 1913, the largest military museum in the Netherlands now stands: under a huge roof, fighter jets hang in an air combat scene, alongside the F-16 with the MiG kill and a Chinook you can walk through. The guide for spotters and aviation fans.

Royal Army Museum Brussels

since 1911

Under the glass roof of an exhibition hall from 1880, more than 100 aircraft fill Brussels’ Cinquantenaire Park – from World War I biplanes and Spitfires to the Starfighter, the Sabena Caravelle and the F-16. A guide to the air hall of the Royal Army Museum for spotters and aviation fans.

Aeroscopia Toulouse

since 2015

Across from the Airbus final assembly line in Blagnac stand two Concordes, the second A380 ever built, the first A320, a Super Guppy and, since June 2026, the world’s first BelugaST in a museum. Aeroscopia is the must-visit for anyone seeking hands-on Airbus history – and the starting point of the factory tours.

Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace

since 1919

One of the oldest aviation museums in the world, housed in the Art Deco terminal of Paris’s first airport: from the Blériot monoplane through two Concordes to the A380, the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace tells a hundred years of aviation and spaceflight – and next door the business jets take off.

Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare Vigna di Valle

since 1977

The Italian Air Force museum sits on the shore of Lake Bracciano northwest of Rome – on the grounds of Italy’s oldest airfield. In five hangars it leads chronologically from airships and biplanes through the Schneider Trophy racers with the world record holder Macchi MC.72 to the Starfighter, Tornado and Eurofighter.

Volandia – Parco e Museo del Volo

since 2010

Volandia is housed in the restored halls of the Caproni works, just a walk from Terminal 1 at Milan Malpensa. Here stands the 1910 Caproni Ca.1, Italy’s oldest surviving aircraft, along with around 100 aircraft from the DC-3 and the former state DC-9 to the Starfighter and the AW609 tiltrotor.

Aerospace Bristol

In Filton near Bristol stands the Concorde that ended the supersonic age in 2003. Aerospace Bristol shows Alpha Foxtrot in its own hall, plus a century of aircraft building from the Boxkite through Brabazon and Britannia to the Airbus wing – the guide for aviation fans.

Brooklands Museum

since 1987

On the site of the world’s first racing circuit, Vickers built the Wellington, Viscount and VC10. Today a Concorde, the Sultan of Oman’s VC10 and a bomber from Loch Ness stand there – the guide for aviation fans visiting Brooklands near Weybridge.

de Havilland Aircraft Museum

since 1959

Where the Mosquito was designed in 1939, its prototype now stands – alongside two more Mosquitos, the fuselage of an early Comet and more than half a century of de Havilland history. The guide to what the museum itself calls Britain’s first aviation museum, near London Colney.

Imperial War Museum Duxford

since 1977

Duxford is a museum and an active airfield at once: in the hangars of the former RAF fighter station stand Concorde, SR-71 and B-52, flyable Spitfires wait on the apron – and several times a year everything with a propeller takes off. The guide for airshow visitors and spotters.

National Museum of Flight East Fortune

since 1975

Scotland’s national aviation museum sits on the former RAF East Fortune airfield in East Lothian. Four exhibition hangars hold the British Airways Concorde G-BOAA, Vulcan XM597 from the Falklands War, the oldest surviving Harrier and a collection of civil aircraft with Scottish connections.

RAF Museum Cosford

since 1979

The RAF Museum Cosford in Shropshire – officially the RAF Museum Midlands since 2022 – shows all three British V-bombers in one hall, the supersonic prototype TSR-2 and, according to the museum, the oldest Spitfire Mk I in the world. Admission is free, the museum sits on an active RAF station, and once a year the grounds become the stage for a big air show.

RAF Museum London (Hendon)

since 1972

The RAF Museum London stands on the former Hendon airfield in the north of the city – one of the birthplaces of British aviation. In six hangars it tells the story of the Royal Air Force, from the wood-and-fabric biplanes of World War I through the Spitfire, Lancaster and Vulcan to the Tornado and Eurofighter. Admission is free; you book a free ticket online in advance.

Shuttleworth Collection

since 1928

At Old Warden the aircraft don’t just sit in the hangar: the Shuttleworth Collection keeps machines from 1909 to the 1950s airworthy – including some of the oldest flying aircraft in the world. The guide to the collection, grass runway, airshows and photo planning.

Museo del Aire Madrid-Cuatro Vientos

since 1966

The Museo del Aire is Spain’s national aviation museum and sits right at Madrid’s oldest airfield. Across about 67,000 square meters, the Spanish Air and Space Force shows, by its own account, around 200 aircraft – from the 1911 Vilanova Acedo through Juan de la Cierva’s autogiros to the Phantom and the CL-215 water bomber. Admission is free.

Polish Aviation Museum Krakow

since 1964

The Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow sits on the former Rakowice-Czyżyny airfield, one of the oldest airfields in Europe. Here stand World War I aircraft that exist nowhere else, the only surviving PZL P.11c, a Spitfire in the colors of Poland’s No. 308 Squadron and a large outdoor area full of jets and helicopters from East and West.

Prague-Kbely Aviation Museum

since 1968

The Letecké muzeum Kbely in northeast Prague is one of Europe’s great aviation museums: On a historic military airfield, the Military History Institute VHÚ shows Czechoslovak aviation from 1918 to the present – from the SPAD and Avia B-534 through the Czech Me 262 and Bf 109 derivatives to the whole MiG family and the ČSA Tupolev Tu-104A. Admission is free.

Flygvapenmuseum Linköping

since 1984

The Flygvapenmuseum at Malmen airfield near Linköping is the museum of the Swedish Air Force – and the best place to see the entire Saab lineage in one day, from the B 18 propeller bomber through Tunnan, Lansen, Draken and Viggen to the Gripen. Add the wreck of the DC-3 shot down in 1952 in the Catalina affair.

Norsk Luftfartsmuseum Bodø

since 1994

Norway’s national aviation museum stands in a propeller-shaped building right at Bodø Airport. For many visitors the star is the Lockheed U-2: this is where Gary Powers was meant to land on May 1, 1960, before he was shot down over the Soviet Union. There are also a Spitfire, Mosquito, Starfighter, F-16 and a large civil collection.

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

since 1991

McMinnville, Oregon, is home to the world’s largest wooden airplane: the Hughes H-4 Hercules, better known as the Spruce Goose. The museum, known for decades as the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum and the North American Aerospace Museum since August 2026, also shows an SR-71, a Titan II rocket in its silo, plenty of Cold War jets and a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-200.

Intrepid Museum

since 1982

A World War II aircraft carrier as a museum in the middle of Manhattan: on and beside the USS Intrepid stand Concorde G-BOAD with the fastest Atlantic crossing of any Concorde, Space Shuttle Enterprise and an A-12 Blackbird. The guide for spotters and Concorde fans.

National Air and Space Museum

since 1946

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington shows the icons of aviation history in the original: the 1903 Wright Flyer, Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Apollo 11 capsule Columbia. After a multi-year complete renovation the building is almost fully reopened – admission is free, but you still need a timed-entry ticket.

National Museum of the US Air Force

since 1923

By its own account the largest military aviation museum in the world is not in Washington but on an active Air Force base in Ohio: four huge halls with more than 350 aircraft and missiles, including Kennedy’s Air Force One, the only surviving XB-70 and the B-17 “Memphis Belle” – with free admission. The guide for spotters and museum fans.

Pima Air & Space Museum

since 1976

One of the world’s largest aircraft collections sits in the Arizona desert: Cold War bombers, presidential aircraft, Boeing test aircraft and the last big flying boat. The spotter’s guide – with everything you need to know about the hangars, the outdoor area, the boneyard and shooting photos in the heat.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

since 2003

The second hall of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum sits right at Washington Dulles Airport: the SR-71 Blackbird, the B-29 “Enola Gay,” an Air France Concorde, the Dash 80 and Space Shuttle Discovery under one roof – free admission, observation tower overlooking the airport included.

The Museum of Flight

since 1965

The Museum of Flight at the southwest corner of Boeing Field in Seattle shows more than 150 aircraft and spacecraft – including the very first Boeing 747, RA001, a British Airways Concorde, the first jet-powered Air Force One and Boeing’s birthplace, the Red Barn. Right next door, real traffic lands and takes off.