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At the Lyon Air Museum, you can get up close to history

March 27, 2026

Editor’s Note: This is part of a monthly feature on arts and culture offerings in Orange County, which is rich with indoor and outdoor, often inexpensive or even free, options that you might not know about.

Military aviation history comes to life at the Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana.

Unlike museums where artifacts are displayed behind glass or cordoned off by velvet rope, many of the aircraft and vehicles making up the collection in the museum’s 30,000-square-foot hangar can be observed up close.

And on scheduled open cockpit days, youngsters can even climb aboard historical planes such as a C-47 and experience the feeling of being inside a military transport, having a hands‑on connection to history, museum officials said.

People look through the planes at Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, CA on Friday, February 20, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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People look through the planes at Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, CA on Friday, February 20, 2026. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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“From the museum perspective, getting this kind of access and a look at this is pretty remarkable,” said Roger Carlson, one of the knowledgeable volunteer docents who guide visitors through the hangar. “You know, it’s one thing to sit and look at it from outside, but to get inside and look at it and smell it. These airplanes have a smell.”

Because the museum is on the grounds of John Wayne Airport, children can watch modern aircraft outside take off and land while learning about the historic planes inside, Carlson said.

Most of the museum’s exhibits center on World War II and include authentic aircraft, historic vehicles and related memorabilia that bring the era’s aviation and wartime story to life.

The aircraft and vehicles in the Lyon Air Museum are typically not only historically significant, but were fully functional for much of their postwar lives, Carlson said, often flying, driving or serving in secondary roles such as cargo hauling and firefighting.

Some have even appeared in films.

Among the notable aircraft in the museum is a B -17 Flying Fortress, a heavy bomber used during World War II with a typical combat lifespan of about 11 missions.

An O‑1 Bird Dog, which was an observation reconnaissance aircraft, is one of the few aircraft at the museum used during the Vietnam era.

The Bird Dog flew low and slow and was heavily targeted by enemy forces.

School tours take place regularly, often filling the gaps with some historical facts not being taught in school, Carlson said.

Large storyboards displayed all around the museum add context to the aircraft.

Maps, for example, detail the Pacific and European theater operations.

Charts show aircraft production growth and narratives provide first-person accounts from military personnel and explain strategies such as island hopping.

“In 1940, before we entered the war, we were producing about 6,000 military aircraft a year,” Carlson said. “By 1944, we were producing 95,000. By late 1944, one bomber was coming off the assembly line every hour. This is how we won the war — we could out‑produce anybody.”

Gilbert Peck made a trip from Oceanside on his Indian motorcycle after seeing a YouTube video about the museum.

“I love history and especially around World War II,” Peck said one recent day. “The care that goes into maintaining not only the aircraft but the motorcycles and the cars that are here … The displays are just gorgeous. The docents here are just fantastic, a wealth of information and just very hospitable.”

The Lyon Air Museum grew out of Major General William Lyon’s lifelong connection to aviation, military service and education.

A pilot during World War II and later the Korean War, Lyon went on to become chief of the U.S. Air Force Reserve and, separately, one of Orange County’s most prominent homebuilders.

Lyon, who died in 2020, began collecting historical aircraft, vehicles and related artifacts, and as the collection expanded, he realized that there was more to the artifacts than their functions during the war.

Knowing that the planes and vehicles also carried the stories of the men and women who built, flew, and maintained them during World War II, Lyon became concerned that those stories were fading as veterans aged and died.

In the mid‑2000s, Lyon decided to make the collection public in a hangar at the airport, a location that allowed the museum to operate alongside Martin Aviation, connecting historic aircraft to a working aviation environment.

Check it out

What: Lyon Air Museum
Where: 19300 Ike Jones Road in Santa Ana; it is in a hangar on the outskirts of John Wayne Airport
Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily; the museum is closed on select holidays, including Easter, and on occasion for private events.
Admission: $15 general admission; $13 for seniors and veterans; $9 for ages 5-17; free for under 5
Information: lyonairmuseum.org

At the Lyon Air Museum, you can get up close to history Orange County Register

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At the Lyon Air Museum, you can get up close to history

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