The Army Aviation Museum Foundation

The Army Aviation Museum Foundation This is not a government site, links do not imply endorsement. The Foundation is not part of the U.S. Army or any of the museums administered by the U.S. Army.
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The official page of the Army Aviation Museum Foundation, a non-profit organization in support of the US Army Aviation Museum and Training Support Facility, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Army, including the U.S. Army Aviation Museum. Furthermore, the Foundation is not endorsed by the U.S. Army or any of the U.S. Army museums, including the U.S. While this page serves to provide information about the U.S. Army Aviation Museum, the views expressed are those of the Foundation, not the U.S.

🇫🇷 Next Stop: Western EuropeOur culinary journey continues with a taste of classic European comfort. ✈️🍷🍲 CassouletPaire...
08/29/2026

🇫🇷 Next Stop: Western Europe

Our culinary journey continues with a taste of classic European comfort. ✈️🍷

🍲 Cassoulet

Paired with Les Jamelles Syrah - a rich, full-bodied red with notes of wild berries, dark plum and raspberry, complemented by hints of black pepper, cinnamon and subtle oak.

Velvety, savory and made for lingering over — exactly what a good date night should be. ❤️

This is the second of five globally inspired food and wine pairings waiting for you at Date Night at the Museum, enjoyed in a setting unlike anywhere else.

🌏 Where are we headed next? Stay tuned…

🎟️ Tickets are limited - reserve your table for Date Night at the Museum today!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1KzN7ZqATV/

🇨🇺 First Stop: CubaOur Date Night tasting journey begins with a little Cuban flavor. ✈️🍷🥟 Cuban EmpanadasPaired with Tri...
08/29/2026

🇨🇺 First Stop: Cuba

Our Date Night tasting journey begins with a little Cuban flavor. ✈️🍷
🥟 Cuban Empanadas

Paired with Trivento Malbec from Argentina - a rich, velvety red with notes of ripe plum, blackberry and blueberry, balanced by hints of vanilla and oak spice.
It’s the first of five globally inspired food and wine pairings you’ll experience throughout the evening, bringing flavors from around the world together in the unforgettable setting of the Army Aviation Museum.

Good food. Great wine. And a date night that’s anything but ordinary. ❤️

🌎 Next stop coming soon…

🎟️ Tickets are limited — reserve your table for Date Night at the Museum today!

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/1KzN7ZqATV/

Help Us Bring a Remarkable Piece of Army Aviation History Back to LifeSome aircraft tell one story. OH-6A Cayuse, Tail N...
08/29/2026

Help Us Bring a Remarkable Piece of Army Aviation History Back to Life

Some aircraft tell one story. OH-6A Cayuse, Tail No. 66-17754, tells eight.

Throughout its service, this aircraft moved through an extraordinary series of assignments spanning Vietnam, Cold War operations, special operations development, National Guard service, and Army aviation experimentation.

Its history includes service with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam, the 79th Transportation Company, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, and the Tennessee Army National Guard.

It also served as a test platform during MH-6 development, helping evaluate configurations later adopted by the 160th SOAR MH-6, before completing its Army career supporting test and evaluation with the Kinetics Experimentation Branch, DEVCOM Aviation Center.

Now, its next mission is preservation.

Restoring 66-17754 will require approximately 1,420 labor hours, 11 months of work, six restoration stages, and $50,000.

The process will take the aircraft from a complete condition assessment through decades of coating removal, corrosion treatment, fabrication and repair, period-correct paint and markings, and finally the engineering required to suspend it for display.

When complete, 66-17754 will be suspended above the Museum’s MH-60L DAP “Super 68” — pairing this Vietnam-era scout with the Night Stalkers gunship that inherited part of its aviation DNA.

We need your help to make it happen.

Every contribution moves this historic aircraft one step closer to its place in the Museum and helps preserve its story for future generations.

Give $10, $50, $100, or whatever amount is meaningful to you. Together, we can give this aircraft one more mission.

Donate today by clicking the link below or scanning the QR code in this post:

armyaviationmuseum.org/get-involved/donate

On the Dropdown section, Choose “Loache Restoration”

Preserve the aircraft. Preserve its stories. Preserve Army Aviation history.

✨ Your Date Night at the Museum Itinerary Starts Tomorrow…Five destinations. Five dishes. Five perfectly paired wines. O...
08/28/2026

✨ Your Date Night at the Museum Itinerary Starts Tomorrow…

Five destinations. Five dishes. Five perfectly paired wines. One unforgettable evening - all right here in the Museum. 🍷✈️

Over the next several days, we’re taking you on a first look at the tasting experience planned for Date Night at the Museum.

Each stop on the evening’s culinary journey is inspired by a different region of the world and paired with a carefully selected wine - all enjoyed in one of the most unique settings for a date night, surrounded by Army Aviation history.

🌎 Cuba
🍷 Western Europe
🌏 East Asia
🌮 Latin America
🥂 Middle East & North Africa

Tomorrow, our first stop is Cuba. 🇨🇺

We’ll be revealing each course and wine pairing one at a time, so follow along - and start deciding which one you’re most excited to try.

🎟️ Tickets are limited. Reserve your date night before your table is gone.

Visit our Event Page to access the ticket link: https://www.facebook.com/share/1KzN7ZqATV/

Too often, the history of Army Aviation is told through its iconic machines—the Hueys, Chinooks, Black Hawks, and Apache...
08/26/2026

Too often, the history of Army Aviation is told through its iconic machines—the Hueys, Chinooks, Black Hawks, and Apaches that define combat doctrine. But airframes, turbine engines, and avionics don't write history on their own. People do.

While legendary names like Howze, Novosel, and Yano are etched into the branch’s lore, the true strength of Army Aviation lives in the countless soldiers known simply as part of the whole. The heroes of our history aren't just figures in black-and-white photographs—they walk among us every single day. They are our neighbors, mentors, colleagues, and family members.

On display at the Aviation Training Support Facility is a quiet, powerful testament to that truth: the desert flight suit worn by 1st Lt. Jason King.

On March 23, 2003, during the intense deep-strike missions over Iraq, crews of the 11th Aviation Regiment flew straight into a vicious curtain of ground fire. In the cockpit of his AH-64D Apache Longbow, LT King was struck by enemy fire, sustaining severe wounds to his neck and torso. Despite the trauma, blood loss, and heavy cockpit damage, he remained focused—managing vital systems and calling out threats to help nurse his crippled aircraft back across friendly lines.

That flight suit bears silent witness to a moment of extraordinary courage, but it represents something far larger: the quiet, everyday valor of the men and women who step forward when duty calls.

Aircraft are repaired, modernized, or eventually retired to museum floors. But the heartbeat of the mission has always been the soldiers inside them. Cherish these heroes today while they are here to share their wisdom, shake your hand, and tell their stories—and commit to remembering them tomorrow so their legacy never fades.

Visit us soon, entry is always free! US Army Aviation Museum and Aviation Training Support Facility | Fort Rucker, AL

🐾 Scooby reporting for duty!In honor of , our favorite four-legged staff member took his responsibilities very seriousl...
08/26/2026

🐾 Scooby reporting for duty!

In honor of , our favorite four-legged staff member took his responsibilities very seriously and conducted a full inspection of the museum. 🫡

Aircraft? Checked.
Exhibits? Checked.
Treat supply? Under review. 👀

We think the museum passed inspection. 🐶✈️

Help us celebrate Scooby by dropping a photo of your favorite pup in the comments! 🐾

Forget titanium and carbon fiber—back in the 1950s, the design team at Kaman apparently wandered into a Home Depot lumbe...
08/26/2026

Forget titanium and carbon fiber—back in the 1950s, the design team at Kaman apparently wandered into a Home Depot lumber aisle and said, "I am Groot."

Meet the Kaman HOK-1 (HH-43 Huskie), the aircraft that looked at modern aerospace engineering and declared, "I have many leather-bound books, and my rotor blades smell of rich mahogany."

Beyond having intermeshing synchropter rotors that look like two giant eggbeaters playing an intense game of Twister at 300 RPM, this bird had some of the wildest engineering ever flown:

While other designers were pivoting to sleek metal, Kaman crafted rotor blades out of solid laminated mahogany. The US Army evaluated this flying credenza at Fort Rucker as a bespoke MEDEVAC. With stable hovering and rear clam-shell doors, it was practically a flying MASH* unit ready to swoop in and whisper, "Help is on the way, dear!" The catch? Wood and Alabama humidity go together like oil and water. Wood rot and weather warping meant it couldn't quite branch out into full-time Army service.

Instead of standard, bulky mechanical swashplates twisting the blade roots, the Huskie used tiny aerodynamic "servo-flaps" on the trailing edges. Move the cyclic, the mini-flap deflects, and aerodynamic forces physically twist and flex the mahogany blade. That's right: it literally engaged Warp Drive to steer!

Despite sounding like an IKEA flat-pack fever dream, this overachiever was The Fast and the Wood-ious:
* Shattered multiple world altitude and time-to-climb records.
* Provided rock-solid stability to rescue crews and patients alike.
* Required a pre-flight inspection where crew chiefs reached for Pledge instead of hydraulic fluid.

Next time maintenance gets tough, just remember: at least you don't have to check your main rotor for termites.

Come knock on wood and see this legendary synchropter in person at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum!

08/25/2026

A sneak peek inside our Training Support Facility 👀

The TSF isn’t normally open to the public, and that’s part of what makes these Open House days so special! As an active facility used for training, public access is limited throughout the year. But on select event days, you get the chance to step inside and explore it for yourself.

✈️ October 24 | 10 AM–3 PM
Models & Machines: Scale Model Show + TSF Open House

🇺🇸 December 5 | 9 AM–3 PM
Remember Pearl Harbor Car Show + TSF Open House

Two events. Two rare chances to see a space you don’t normally get access to.

Visit our Events page to learn more!

Dayton, Ohio, 1921. McCook Field engineers are staring at a massive pile of shredded oak and having a collective technic...
08/24/2026

Dayton, Ohio, 1921. McCook Field engineers are staring at a massive pile of shredded oak and having a collective technical meltdown.

Turns out, spinning a wooden stick at 1,400 RPM over muddy cow pastures and gravel runways means your propeller acts less like an airfoil and more like an aggressive wood-chipper.

The early fix was slapping heavy copper "boots" on the tips, which worked great until violent centrifugal force stretched the soft copper, ripped the screws out, and flung metal projectiles across the airfield.
So the Army Air Service Propeller Branch broke out the torches, tin snips, and coffee to invent a fix on the fly:

Step 1: The Brass "Finger" Hack

Flat metal hates complex 3D curves. Try wrapping a solid sheet of brass around a twisted propeller blade and it immediately wrinkles like cheap foil. The solution? Cut the edges into a jagged fringe of serrated little fingers so it bends around the airfoil without throwing a tantrum.

Step 2: Punch, Screw, Melt

Drive No. 3 brass screws into the wood, cup the metal with a punch so the heads sit low, and then hit it with the ultimate mechanic’s secret weapon: a ridiculous amount of molten solder. Flood every seam, rivet, and screw hole until it looks like a silver river, then file it smooth. Aerodynamics achieved.

Step 3: The "Factory-Approved" Solder Glob

Put the finished prop on knife-edge balancing bars. Left side dipping by a tenth of an ounce? Don't you dare carve into that white oak. Just slap an extra dollop of hot solder directly onto the light brass tip until it stops moving. If anyone asks, it’s not an ugly glob—it’s precision military calibration.

Step 4: Don't Forget the P*e Holes
Drill three tiny No. 60 holes right into the tip so trapped moisture can escape. Skip this step, and centrifugal force turns your propeller into a high-speed water balloon that rots from the inside out.

The result? The standardized metal-tipping method that kept biplanes flying without self-destructing. This survivor in our collection—stamped by U.S. Repair Station 285—proves this prop went through the McCook wringer and lived to tell the tale.

Drop a comment: What’s your favorite "if it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid" engineering fix in history?

✨ One week later, and we’re still smiling about this day! ✈️It’s officially been one week since our National Aviation Da...
08/22/2026

✨ One week later, and we’re still smiling about this day! ✈️

It’s officially been one week since our National Aviation Day Celebration, and what a day it was! Thousands of you joined us at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum for a day filled with aviation, history, hands-on experiences, community, and memories we won’t soon forget.

A huge thank you to M1 Support Services for making this incredible celebration possible. Your support helped us bring this event to life and create an unforgettable day for our community.

To every vendor, community partner, organization, volunteer, and participant who showed up and helped make the day so special - THANK YOU. This event was a success because of the time, energy, experiences, and enthusiasm you brought with you.

And most importantly, thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! Seeing thousands of people filling the museum, exploring Army Aviation, meeting our partners, and making memories together is exactly what this celebration is all about.

📸 We’re excited to finally share some of the incredible moments captured throughout the day by Lindsey Slagle Photography!

National Aviation Day 2026 is officially in the books… and after a day like this, we’re already looking forward to next year! 🚁🇺🇸

Address

Bldg. 6000 Novosel Street
Fort Rucker, AL
36362

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 3pm

Telephone

+13345982508

Website

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