 The SR-71 Blackbird in front of the museum | |
 | |
| Established | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | June 30, 2016 |
| Location | 5701 Huntsman Road, Sandston, Virginia |
| Type | Aviation Museum |
| Director | Edward Andrews |
| Website | Virginia Aviation Museum |
37°31′1″N 77°20′2.8″W / 37.51694°N 77.334111°WThe Virginia Aviation Museum was an aviation museum in unincorporated Henrico County, Virginia, adjacent to Richmond International Airport (formerly "Richard Evelyn Byrd Flying Field"). Erected in 1986, the museum housed a collection of some thirty-four airframes, both owned and on-loan, ranging from reproductions of Wright Brothers kite gliders to the still state-of-the-art SR-71 Blackbird.[1] It was a subsidiary of the Science Museum of Virginia.
The museum was housed in the Martha C. West Building, a hangar named after Martha C. West, a pioneering aviator and the first president of the Richmond Women’s Flying Club. This building was originally planned to be a temporary storage facility until the actual museum building finished construction. That never happened and the museum closed June 30, 2016 after issues with the roof and climate control became insurmountable, issuing a terse statement stating "[the building had] reached the end of its useful life."[2][3]
The SR-71 was moved to the Science Museum of Virginia where it is on display.[4] The Shannon collection (acquired in 1981 when Sidney Shannon Jr died) was returned to Shannon Air Museum the year after closure. This collection includes the Pitcairn Mailwing and the Vultee V-1, among others.
