Carolinas Aviation Museum

The Charlotte Airport hangar was erected in 1936-37 by the Works Progress Administration, better known as WPA, a program tied to the federal work program that served Charlotte during the Great Depression. The airport consisted of two buildings, an administration/terminal building, one hangar, a beacon tower, two 3000-foot runways and one 2500-foot runway. On May 17th 1938 Eastern Airlines flew the first commercial flight into Charlotte and in the airport's first year of operation six flights took off from Charlotte each day.  Two years later, the airport was renamed Douglas Municipal Airport in honor of the mayor Ben E. Douglas who headed the movement to build it. In 1941, the Army Air Force took control of the airport and renamed it Morris Field in honor of Major William Colb Morris. Then in 1954 the airport was renamed Douglas Municipal Airport in honor of Mayor Ben Elbert Douglas. Charlotte Douglas Airport grew rapidly over the years but in 1991, the original hangar was scheduled to be torn down to make room for expansion. Floyd and Lois Wilson heard about the removal of the hangar and decided to step in to save the historical landmark. They organized a small group of aviation enthusiasts and formed the Carolinas Historical Aviation Commission (CHAC). Their vision - "To preserve the past, present and future aviation history of North and South Carolina." Of course the logo reflected this vision. The organization acquired its first aircraft from the U.S. Army in 1992 - a North American T-28 Trojan.The T-28 was a trainer designed in 1949 to replace the T-6 Texan used during WWII.  It was in production from about 1950 to 1957. Two years after the CHAC was formed, the old hangar officially became the new home of the Carolinas Aviation Museum.Due to the extension of the new taxiway in 2010, the hangar was moved and the museum was relocated to the new 40,000 square foot hangar on First Flight Drive.The original hangar is still part of the museum and can be seen across the runway from the new hangar. But it is currently used only for storage of some of the museum's aircraft.Stop by and see how the museum has evolved...with many of our displays