Commemorative Air Force Airbase Arizona

For my husband’s birthday, I recently paid $ 850 for him to ride in the «nose» section of the B-​17 bomber. This was an expensive gift as I knew that the ride would only last 30 minutes, but was willing to pay this price given the opportunity for my husband to experience the thrill. When we arrived for the flight, we met another guest whose wife had also booked the «nose» section for her husband’s birthday. We then learned that CAF routinely books two reservations for the «nose» section. We were extremely disappointed to learn that there ARE NOT TWO SEATS IN THE NOSE, but rather one in the nose (the glass section) and one directly behind in the NAVIGATOR seat. So, what I thought would be a 30 minute ride in the glassed nose section, ended up being a 15-​minute ride with my husband and the other guest switching places after 15 minutes. I called to complain afterwards and was told no one had ever complained before about this. I found this surprising, given the cost. I recommended that CAF update the website reservations page to CLEARLY indicate that the two seats in the nose are actually one seat in the glass bomber area and the other in the navigator seat. At $ 850 this was a COMPLETE RIPOFF and a very disappointing birthday gift. Just BEWARE if you plan to reserve the nose!
The museum itself is excellent and worth the time to visit.

Went inside a B-​17 and received intimate knowledge of the plane’s history and its crew. Tons of other aircraft and war memorabilia scattered throughout. Worth the admission price

This place is a great value for what we paid. Many displays of old air history and facts. The displays range from old artifacts from Wolrd War II and the Vietnam War, scale models of various planes, to actual ready to fly planes. The exhibits are both in and outside. Many volunteers are around to answer any questions you might have. Well worth going to!

Very nice little museum. I have never been to a museum where you could get inside a B-​17. Very cool. One of the volunteers gave us a tour of the museum and told us about the history of the aircraft and took us to the hanger where the B-​17 was. It was just finishing up with its winter overhaul. Very informative tour. Many of their aircraft fly and available for rides so not all their planes are at the museum as was the case the day I went. Some of the planes were at the Deer Valley Airport with the B-​29, FIFI which I saw the day before. There is a lot more than aircraft here. They have many models, engines on display, just to name a couple of things.

What a fantastic museum! There are so many planes here including the B-​17 that you can tour. You can also take rides on several of the old planes. We loved the tour and we loved all the history loaded into this building. Fantastic!

If you are into planes and learning about history, This place is great! We had a great time and really enjoyed the gentlemen there that could tell you so much about the planes and the wars. Really cool place to see.

I got to walk thru a real flying B-​17 bomber. That experience alone was worth the price of admission. Everything else was all gravy.

Great place to see military aviation history. The museum is totally privately funded. Volunteers do all the maintenance on the aircraft and conduct tours. Volunteers who make donations for the privilege to be volunteers I might add. A must see if you’re in the Mesa area.

It’s a great way to spend a few hours. My kids loved it!

I could not believe how cool this place is!
My little cutie pie was not too enthused when I told him we were coming here. He’s more of a natural outdoorsy science kid. Right when I parked our vehicle, his eyes lit up. I have to admit, mine did too! Military planes everywhere! Veterans walking around, eager to talk about their stories were one of the highlights of our trip! I could not peel my son off the inside the B-​17 Bomber plane! WWII, Korean and Vietnam memorabilia galore! I wish we had one of my uncles here to tell us of their experience. I can’t wait to take hubby here. He’d definitely appreciate all the marvels of engineering.

WOW! That’s the only appropriate way to start this review. I’m a flight attendant and daughter of a USAF veteran and can’t believe I never knew this place existed until I was searching for wedding venues on the web (I am hoping to book this place, as the rental seems quite a good price and it’s an amazing and unique venue). First of all, you can see some of the amazing aircraft on the Tarmac as you pull into the parking lot. The aircraft they have on display are a complete marvel and it’s impossible to look at them and not be in complete awe. Being able to crawl into an authentic WW2 B-​17 was incredible, and all the vets, engineers and volunteers are very sweet, friendly, and willing to tell you any and all info on the planes. Even more fascinating is the exhibits of genuine artifacts from the war. And for a very low price for entrance I think it’s a great hidden gem to take you kids to.

If you love history and/​or aviation, this is a great place to visit. Only $ 10 admission for adults and $ 3 for kids. We really enjoyed ourselves. Only the gift shop has AC, so plan accordingly or wait until the weather is cooler if you don’t care for the heat.

Rainy weekends in Scottsdale will prompt an outing to a museum and my husband loves military type stuff so this was perfect. It was a very interesting museum — airplanes, helicopters, uniforms, etc. to view and learn about its history. There is also a hangar outside that has aircraft that are vintage but still run, so it’s a «working» hangar. $ 12 for adults at your leisure inside. Cool experience.

Let me preface by mentioning that I’m a sucker for every and all Aerospace/​Aircraft museums…
Located at Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ, this museum is in close proximity to the now closed Champlin Fighter Museum (Champlin exhibits were purchased and are now on display at the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA). While not nearly as extensive as the Champlin museum used to be, it does have one important and very cool draw… the «Sentimental Journey», a restored WWII era B-​17.
What makes this B-​17 special is that they allow you to get a taste of what it was like to be a WWII airmen by climbing through the hatch and crawling through the very cramped interior of the aircraft! It is an eye opening experience to get a taste of how brave these men used to be as they loaded up for each bombing raid, knowing they would be traveling in those small, cold, and dangerous conditions.
The remainder of the museum contains about a dozen other aircraft primarily from the WWII era with a couple of Cold War jets (F-​4 and MiG-​21) thrown in for fun. There are a few very interesting stories and biographies covering local Mesa WWII heroes on the walls and a few fun exhibits covering the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP’s), Doolittle Raiders, and the Tuskegee Airmen. Otherwise, this is one of the smaller aircraft museums I’ve been to. It will take you about two hours to see it all, although there were several volunteers working who probably have a story or two to add about each exhibit.
Highlight: Walking across the 6 inch wide catwalk inside the «Sentimental Journey» with the bomb-​bay doors open. It is hard not to image what it must have been like flying above enemy territory at 20,000 ft with enemy fighters and anti-​aircraft artillery trying to kill you!
Definitely worth the admission charge (~$ 6 for most). Active military is free!