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Overview

Collections and Research

Museums exist for and because of historical objects. The items that museums own and care for are what sets them apart from other cultural and educational institutions. Hill Aerospace Museum houses and preserves a wide variety of objects, from gigantic military aircraft to delicate and fragile artwork. It is our responsibility to hold these objects in the public trust, in perpetuity, for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of future generations.

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Museum Collection

Our artifacts collection consists of over 4,000 objects, including aircraft, military vehicles, missiles, ordnance, military uniforms, artwork, and many other types of historical items. All of our objects are actually the property of the United States Air Force Museum System, of which we are a field museum. At any one time, only about 20 percent of our collection is on exhibit.

Hill Aerospace Museum adheres closely to the principles of preventive conservation, whereby we seek to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the effects of all the factors that, every day, threaten the continued survival of our collection objects. Many of our aircraft undergo refurbishment or complete restoration, but we do not conduct remedial conservation on other objects in the collections. For that we rely on the Conservation Laboratory at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

Our collection artifacts and aircraft are exhibited in five eras corresponding to our interpretive timeline: The Beginnings, World War II, Dawn of the Jet Age, The Cold War, and Keeping the Peace.

Most of our artwork is shown in the Lindquist Art Gallery, although many other pieces are displayed at various other locations throughout our buildings.