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Combat Air Museum, Topeka, Kansas

Discover aviation history from the earliest days of flight to the present at the Combat Air Museum as part of this group motorcoach vacation package. Located at the Topeka Regional Airport on Forbes Field in Topeka, Kansas, the Combat Air Museum was organized in the fall of 1976 as a wing of David Tallichet’s Yesterday’s Air Force. In 1979 the group reorganized under the name of the Combat Air Museum. Today the Combat Air Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation, conservation and exhibition of aircraft, information, artifacts, technology and art associated with the military aviation history of the United States of America.

Visiting the Combat Air Museum

Discover aviation history as you explore the Combat Museum’s aircraft collection and wide variety of military aviation artifacts that span from World War II to the present. In addition, the Combat Air Museum houses a Gift Shop.

What You Will See at the Combat Air Museum

Combat Air Museum Exhibits

The Combat Air Museum boasts over 45 exhibits featuring an extensive array of artifacts and dioramas and a growing gallery of military aviation art. Step back in time in a World War II German POW Period Room. Experience what it is like to fly a plane in the museum’s Flight Simulator or Link Trainer. See clothing worn by a USAF F-4 Pilot in Vietnam. Admire a mural of The Battle of Iwo Jima, originally installed at the entrance tower to the Kansas Free Fair in Topeka in 1948. Learn about the history of an authentic Bendix Twin Machine Gun Turret on display.

Aircrafts at the Combat Air Museum

The Combat Air Museum showcases 37 aircrafts spanning from World War II to the present day across its two hangars. A sampling of aircrafts on display include a Beech SNB-5 Twin Beech Model 18, one of Beech Aircraft’s most successful and longest running production designs; a Grumman US-2A Tracker, a highly successful design that flew over 22 years in the active US Navy; a Lockheed EC-121-LO Warning Star, originally manufactured in Burbank, California in 1954 as a RC-121D; a scale replica of a PFALZ E1, a World War I shoulder-wing monoplane; a Republic F-84-25-RE Thunderstreak acquired from the Maple Woods Community College in Kansas City, Missouri in June of 1980; and a Vultee BT-13A Valiant.

Engines at the Combat Air Museum

In addition to its collection of aircrafts, the museum’s hangars also display aircraft engines of all types and sizes. A GE I-A Whittle Gas Turbine Engine is one of the earliest examples of a glass turbine designed in England by Sir Frank Whittle. See a Curtiss Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 and discover what they have been used for over the years. Pratt & Whitney's R-4360 Wasp Major air-cooled radial engine on display was the ultimate development of the aircraft piston engine. Other engines displayed at the Combat Air Museum include a de Havilland Goblin Turbojet, an Allison TF41-A-1B Turbofan, a Wright R-975 Whirlwind, a Stromberg Injector Carburetor Cutaway, a Pratt & Whitney R2800 Double Wasp, a 1918 Lawrence Piston Engine and a Buick J65-W-5F.

Shopping in the Museum Gift Shop

Be sure to stop by the Museum Gift Shop where you will find art, apparel, books, military plane models and other items unique to the Combat Air Museum available to purchase.

Travel Tips

- Volunteers in the Combat Air Museum will be happy to provide you with valuable tips to help you make the most out your time at this Topeka, Kansas attraction.

- The Combat Air Museum is ADA compliant.

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