Travel Guide / United States / Museums / Melbourne, Florida
Airport Museum, Melbourne, Florida: closed, and where to go instead
Maybe you spotted the Airport Museum on a map or in an older travel listing and wondered whether it is worth a stop. Sadly, there is nothing left to visit. The good news is that the history it told, from wartime fighter training to the space age, is still on show at bigger museums a short drive up the coast.
What the museum was
The museum opened in July 2007 in the terminal at One Air Terminal Parkway. Entry was free, and it kept the terminal's hours, so travellers with time before a flight could wander in.
Its photographs, models and artifacts covered the history of the airport and of Naval Air Station Melbourne, the wartime base that came before it. Two objects stood out: a Link Trainer, one of the early flight simulators used to teach pilots to fly on instruments, and the first stage of a Vanguard rocket. Paintings of historic aircraft by local artists lined the walls, alongside displays from local organisations including Florida Tech, NASA and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.
The airfield history it told
Flying here started in 1928, when a Pitcairn aircraft landed on a cow-pasture strip north of Kissimmee Highway. Later that year the field became a fuelling stop for airmail flights, and in 1933 the City of Melbourne bought 160 acres to build a proper airport.
During the Second World War the field became a Navy base. Naval Air Station Melbourne was commissioned in October 1942 on the site of the Eau Gallie-Melbourne municipal airport, and it gave US Navy fighter pilots their advanced flight training in SNJ Texans, F4F Wildcats and F6F Hellcats.
After the war the field went back to the city, which formally received the deed in 1947. It became Melbourne Regional Airport in 1973, Orlando Melbourne International Airport in 2015, and took its current name, Melbourne Orlando International Airport, in May 2021.
Where to see aviation and space history near Melbourne now
Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum
The closest match for what the airport museum offered, with more than 50 historic aircraft in two exhibit hangars. It sits at 6600 Tico Road in Titusville, on the grounds of Space Coast Regional Airport, under an hour's drive north of Melbourne. Check opening hours and ticket prices on the museum's official website before you go.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
If the Vanguard rocket was the part that caught your eye, this is where the space story continues. The visitor complex is on Merritt Island, roughly an hour's drive north of Melbourne. Book through the official website and check what is open on the day you plan to visit.
American Space Museum and Space Walk of Fame
Also in Titusville, so it pairs well with the Warbird Museum for a single day trip north. Check its official website for current hours and admission.
If you are flying through MLB
With the museum gone, there is no exhibit to fill a long wait airside. The airport is about 1.5 miles northwest of downtown Melbourne and about 70 miles southeast of Orlando, so plan any sightseeing around those distances.