Hiller Aviation Museum. The Hiller Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located at the San Carlos Airport in San Carlos, California focused on Northern California aviation history, Hiller Aircraft and helicopter history.

History

Background
As early as the late 1960s, Stanley Hiller began collecting aircraft at a warehouse in Redwood City, California. By 1986, it displayed 15 aircraft and set a goal of a acquiring a total of 28 of Hiller's designs. Eight years later it had surpassed this and the Hiller Museum of Northern California Aviation Heritage included over 40 aircraft.

Move to San Carlos
However, public access was limited. So, funded by a trust established by Hiller, the museum announced a proposal to acquire a  building at the San Carlos Airport and expand it to  facility. A lease for the property was approved in March 1996 and ground was broken in October. The  Hiller Aviation Museum opened on 5 June 1998.

The Boeing 2707 mockup, which had been on display at the museum since it opened, moved back to Seattle in 2013 where it is undergoing restoration at the Museum of Flight.

Facilities 
The Michael King Smith Research Library at the museum has a collection of approximately 5,400 books.

Exhibits 
Exhibits at the museum include flight simulators, a retired British Airways 747 to explore, and an indoor drone plex. There are also displays about early aviation, California pioneers, air racing, women in aviation, the mechanics of flight, urban air mobility and weather.

Collection

Aircraft

 Aero Commander 500U
 Aero L-39 Albatros
 Airbus Vahana
 Arnold AR-5
 Beachey Little Looper – replica
 Bede BD-5T
 Bell 47D
 Boeing 737-200 – cockpit
 Boeing 747 – forward fuselage
 Boeing Condor
 Bright Star Swift
 Buhl A-1 Autogiro
 Cessna 177 Cardinal
 Colomban Cri-cri
 Curtiss Model D – replica
 Del Mar DH-20
 EAA Penguin
 Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
 Fokker Dr.I – replica
 General Atomics MQ-1 Predator
 Grumman HU-16(RD) Albatross
 Hiller 360
 Hiller Flying Platform
 Hiller VXT-8 – replica
 Hiller J-10
 Hiller OH-23B Raven
  Hiller UH-12A
 Hiller XH-44 – replica
 Hiller XROE-1 Rotorcycle
 Hiller YH-32 Hornet
 Hiller YH-32 Hornet
 Hollmann HA-2M Sportster
 Irvine Aerocycloid – replica
 Kitty Hawk Flyer
 Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star
 Maupin-Lanteri Black Diamond
 Marriott Avitor – replica
 Montgomery Evergreen
 Montgomery Gull – replica
 Montgomery Santa Clara – replica
 NASA AD-1
 Opener BlackFly
 ParaPlane PM-1
 Pietenpol Air Camper
 Pitts S-1C
 Quicksilver MX
 RotorWay Scorpion
 Rutan Defiant
 Rutan Long-EZ
 SoloTrek XFV
 SpaceShipOne – replica
 Stearman-Hammond Y-1
 Thaden T-1 Argonaut – fuselage
 Travel Air D4D
 United Helicopters UH-4
 Velie Monocoupe Model 70
 Vin Fiz Flyer – replica
 Wisk Cora Gen5
 Wright Flyer – replica

Ground vehicles

 Baker electric automobile
 Messerschmitt KR200

Simulators

 Curtiss Wright P-2
 Del Mar DHT-2
 Link Trainer
 McDonnell Douglas A-4M Skyhawk cockpit simulator

Events
The Museum is known for incorporating helicopters to mark holidays, including:
 Flying Footballs (footballs dropped from a helicopter for Super Bowl)
 Leaping Leprechaun (skydiver carried aloft by helicopter)
 Easter Bunny arriving by helicopter
 Halloween Pumpkin Drop (from a helicopter)
 Helicopter Turkey Toss (foam turkeys dropped from a helicopter)
 Santa Claus arriving by helicopter
 
The Museum hosts the Biggest Little Air Show, an airshow consisting of radio-control model aircraft ending with a piloted aerobatic demonstration.
  
This museum sponsored Vertical Challenge, an annual all-helicopter airshow from 2000-2010, and a final one in 2012. In 2011 and 2016 an aviation festival event called Heli-Fest was held instead.

Programs
This museum offers two Scouts BSA Merit Badge programs, the Aviation Merit Badge and the Weather Merit Badge.

See also

 List of aerospace museums

References

Notes

Bibliography

Fact Sheet
Preserving a Legacy

External links

 

Aerospace museums in California
Museums in San Mateo County, California
Smithsonian Institution affiliates
1998 establishments in California