Cavanaugh Flight Museum - Addison, Texas - Museum and Educational Organization

Cavanaugh Flight Museum is located at ADS, Addison Airport at Claire Chennault in Addison, Texas and is easily accessible by car, aircraft or bus. It is a non-profit educational organization devoted to promoting aviation studies and to perpetuating America's aviation heritage. The museum opens from 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sundays and is closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum opened in 1993 and was the brainchild of entrepreneur Jim Cavanaugh, who decided to house his collection of historic aircraft in the museum. Many of the aircraft on display at the museum continue to fly regularly, and visitors will often see them in action. One particular feature the museum is proud of is that visitors can look at the inner workings and nuts and bolts of such famous aircraft as the Sopwith Camel, the P-51 Mustang, or the German Me-109 and talk with the mechanics.

Aircraft collections from home and abroad date back to World War I, with the Fokkers and Sopwith Camel, and progress through the years to World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Several World War II bombers, fighters, trainer and transports aircraft can be seen including the German Messerschmitt and the British de Havilland Tiger Moth. There are also civilian aircraft displayed such as the Pitts Special, Piper J-3 Club and Christen Eagle II.

Apart from the aircraft visitors can also see a selection of artifacts such as weapons, vehicles, aircraft accessories and engines. Located in Hangar 1 is one of the largest collections of aviation art in the country with pieces from internationally famous artists such as Keith Ferris, Roy Grinnell, William Phillips, John Shaw, Stan Stokes, Robert Taylor and Nicholas Trudgian. The collection of vehicles includes military trucks, military utility vehicles and civilian cars from the first half of the 20th century including a 1937 MG and a 1941 Chevrolet.

Visitors can take a ride in one of two war planes, the N2S-4 Stearman and the AT-6 Texan, with flights lasting 30 minutes. The N2S-4 Stearman is an open cockpit biplane used during World War II to train thousands of American combat pilots. The Texan was a powerful advance trainer used to prepare pilots before they flew Mustang, Corsair, Spitfire or other Allied fighters in World War II.

The museum gift shop contains many aviation related souvenirs such as caps, clothing, toys, books, calendars, mugs and artwork, whilst visitors can enjoy a lunch in the designated picnic area or the canteen. A trip round the museum generally takes about two hours so visitors may also like to go to Addison itself, which is one of the Dallas area's most popular destinations and has more than 170 restaurants and 22 hotels within 4.3 square miles. Tourists can do some shopping either side of their visit to the museum, with many prestigious shops in the region including the Dallas Galleria with Nordstroms and Saks Fifth Avenue.