Adopt a Plane at the Military Aviation Museum

The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach is a premier aviation museum with one of the largest military aircraft collections in the world from the World War I and World War II era. The museum restores and flies these rare aircraft at the museum and at air shows across the United States.

Through the museum’s Adopt a Plane program, you can be a part of this process and support the restoration of a rare aircraft that may have only a few left like it flying in the world. The restoration process can take years, as the planes are meticulously restored from original airframes and engines to their historical wartime configurations.

By symbolically adopting an aircraft at the Military Aviation Museum, you are directly supporting the museum and its work by helping them keep these incredible warbirds in the air and preserving living history for future generations. A portion of the price is even tax-deductible as a donation to the museum.

The aircraft currently up for adoption is the Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless, recovered from Lake Michigan and undergoing restoration to airworthiness. The SBD Dauntless turned the tide at the Battle of Midway, and SBD-5 BuNo 36175 was assigned to NAS Glenview where it trained Naval Aviators to land safely on the USS Wolverine and USS Sable, the paddlewheel aircraft carriers of the Great Lakes.

To adopt this rare aircraft is only $150 and includes a double-sided specification and information sheet with custom art by Chad Hill of Django Studios, an official adoption certificate and an exclusive restoration patch available to only those who back the Dauntless by adopting it.

The adoption process is easy. You can add the plane adoption right to your cart on the Military Aviation Museum website and there are a variety of payment options available at checkout. The Military Aviation Museum is open to all and located at 1341 Princess Anne Rd. in Pungo. Be sure to visit and take advantage of all that the museum has to offer. Learn more at MilitaryAviationMuseum.org/Adopt-a-Plane.

—Kelsey Thomas