How to Visit Travis Air Museum at Travis Air Force Base, California

This beautiful plane is inside the museum along with many other aviation historical displays.

Touch aviation and the United States Air Force history by visiting Travis Air Museum at Travis Air Force Base in the northern San Francisco Bay Area. Travis is one of the most active Air Force bases in the country, and it is home to a small museum packed with history, planes and paraphernalia from every war and aviation achievement, including some space flights. This is more a museum for older kids and adults who will get the most out of this experience, but there is plenty for everyone to see at Travis.

Things You'll Need

• Camera
• Photo ID for each person in your vehicle 18 or older
• Car registration
• Proof of car insurance card
• Social Security number

Instructions

1. Come with a photo ID for each person 18 or older, current car registration, current proof of car insurance and your Social Security number. This is a working Air Force base, so you won't get in the front gate without clearance and a proper pass. Bring your camera, but it can only be used on museum items and property. Call ahead of time to make sure the museum is not closed for any reason: [phone].

2. Stop at the small guest registration building before you get to the main gate if you don't have the proper military ID needed to get in the front gate to the base. The Air Force takes this very seriously, so follow the rules or you won't get into the museum on the base. In the registration building, each adult in your vehicle must show photo identification. All required papers must be presented to get the pass, or you will be sent away. The base takes your photo and prints it out on a sheet of paper along with all your information, and it runs your information through a computer. That is your day pass, which allows you onto the base.

3. Get back in your car, make a left and follow the traffic to the gate. A guard will ask for the pass and your photo ID and then show you on a map how to get to the museum. You go straight down the main drag, then turn right on Burgan Boulevard. The museum is on the left side of the road and easy to spot. There are planes in the parking lot.

4. Enter the museum and start touring. Each area of the Travis Air Museum is set up to display a particular theme. There are areas dedicated to the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, Korean War, space program and many others. The museum is stuffed full of many detailed displays including Medals of Honor and a full case of Military Challenge Coins. There is even a display case with debris from the 1950 crash that killed Brigadier General Travis, the namesake of this Air Force base, and an area dedicated to Jimmy Doolittle.

5. Visit the engine room and see a fully restored Hound Dog Missile. It takes up the full length of the engine room. At the end of it you can see a photo of what it looks like mounted on the underside of the plane's wings. The engine room is also full of engine pieces and other displays.

6. 

   Check out the photos and memorabilia in each section of the Travis Air Museum. The Vietnam War area has a year-by-year poster time line reliving the high and low points from 1962 to 1975. See what it is like to look up from under a shroud of camouflage like the kind used in Desert Storm and what various uniforms looked like throughout aviation history, including an astronaut's uniform and World War I gear.

7. 

   Sit in different flight cockpits to get a feel for being in the enclosed spaces and flying an Air Force aircraft. Try the reproduction space capsule and push the button to make it tilt backward.

8. Be prepared to be stunned when you see black bubble bomb shell of the Fat Boy, the bomb that decimated Nagasaki in World War II. Next to modern weaponry, it looks almost cartoonish, but make no mistake, this simple chilling display will leave you with the hair on your arms standing straight up or a few tears on your face.

9. 

   Head outside and check out the 35 full-sized planes, helicopters and jets that are decommissioned but viewable only from the exterior. They are every shape and size, representing the history of Air Force aviation.

10. Get educated about the history of the Air Force and the people who served or still serve in it. It is a powerful display that is sure to stick with you. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Sunday, Monday and federal holidays. Check the website listed below for location, directions and details.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not take photos of any current working planes in flight, on the ground or anything other than the outside and inside Travis Air Museum displays.

Resources

• Travis Air Museum website
• Ponderings: A visitor's reaction to the Travis Air Museum