Tulsa Air and Space Museum

Tulsa Air and Space Museum is more of a regional museum than a more traditional air and space museum with dozens of planes and space flight equipment.  It is a much smaller facility that shows and tells the excellent and fascinating story of Tulsa’s rich aerospace history.  Going in, I had not done any research on the place or even looked at their website, but having gone to a few Air and Space museums like the one in Denver, Colorado or the one in Pima, Arizona I figured it would be worth a stop.  At first I was highly disappointed because of its small size and the fact that there are very few planes, but after stopping and reading the information and learning about the role Oklahoma and more specifically Tulsa has played in the air and space fields I became more interested in the museum.  So, for a history guy like me it was worth seeing, for my wife she was not that interested and thought it would have been better if she would have stayed in the car and saved her admission fee.

The Tulsa Air and Space Museum has two buildings on its campus, the first one is the museum area which has about 19,000 square feet of exhibit space.  The second one is their planetarium which has the Spitz SciDome HD projection technology.  I do not know exactly what all that means, but I can say that the night sky never looked better.

The museum has several exhibits and some of the highlights included an F-14 Tomcat which seems like is a necessity for every air and space museum (thank you Top Gun) a Bell 47k Helicopter which is one of only two left.  An engine area that lets you see just how those engines work, a wind tunnel where I was able to fly a model F-16, and a space maneuvering unit where visitors can feel what it would be like to be in outer space.

Like I said earlier the Tulsa Air and Space Museum is not the biggest place in the world, and it would not be the sole reason I would plan a trip to Tulsa, but if you are interested in history or have seen all the other things the city of Tulsa has to offer then it is worth stopping by, especially if you go to the show at the planetarium.  If you live in the Tulsa area and like the history of your town then this is a great place to learn about Tulsa’s key role in the air and space industry.  The hands-on opportunities would help build a child’s interest in the air and space museum, but if I only had enough time to see one museum in Tulsa this would not be it.  There are a few better options in the city like the Gilcrease Museum or the Philbrook Museum.

to see other aviation museums like the Tulsa Air and Space Museum click here

Tulsa Air and Space Museum
Located at 3624 North 74^th East Avenue, Tulsa
Hours of Operation 10L00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday closed Mondays and most major holidays
Cost as of this Posting Adults 13 to 61 $12, Seniors 62 and up $10, children 4 to 12 $7 admission price includes one planetarium show
For more information visit their website at http://www.tulsaairandspacemuseum.org/