Welcome to the Prairie Aviation Museum. We hope you enjoy the display and exhibits inside the museum and the aircraft in the Airpark. We have 9 aircraft and 2 helicopters on display. We also have one piston and three jet engines (J57, TF-30 and A-4) on display.
At times, like the Open Cockpit Days, we display a Convair 880 simulator and other items we are restoring.
Please stop by and join us for a visit, tour, or one of our Open Cockpit Days.
Take a virtual tour of our Airpark.
Includes a history of the planes, pictures, hot spots for details and videos of interest.
Take a virtual tour of our static displays in the museum.
Includes a history of the display, pictures, hot spots for details and videos of interest.
Our museum is a not for profit organization.
We do not receive any funds from local, state or federal sources.
Volunteer
You do NOT need to have a background in aviation, just an interest in aviation and space plus a willingness to help others.
Prairie Aviation Museum Open
April 6 – October 27, 2024
Every Saturday and Sunday
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Click on the picture to review our history in 10 year increments, starting with 1984. Other 10 year increments are being developed.
How is Prairie Aviation Museum associated
with the original Top Gun movie?
With the newly released Top Gun: Maverick, Prairie Aviation Museum has three planes associated with the original Top Gun movie.
We have the only F-14 Tomcat in static display in Illinois. This is the type of plane Tom Cruise flew in the movie.
Spoiler Alert: An F-14 Tomcat appears in the Top Gun Maverick!
How about Jester and Viper?
They flew a modified A4-Skyhawk. Our Board member, David Wilson, flew the A4M-Skyhawk in the Marines. He hosts the A4-Skyhawk during Special Event Days.
How about the MIG-28?
Hollywood took the tactical version of the T-38, the F-5, and called it a MIG-28 in the movie. The aircraft flown in the movie were actually Navy F-5’s used by Top Gun as adversary aircraft. They painted them black, stuck a red star on the side, and started rolling the cameras.
Our T-38 is an Air Force version. The T-38 was also used by NASA to train Space Shuttle pilots.
