Pacific Coast Air Museum Receives Air Force Museum Certification

The Pacific Coast Air Museum, located at the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, CA, has been awarded full certification by the National Museum of the United States Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.

This prestigious certification is the result of a rigorous two and one-half year process culminating in an on-site inspection of the Pacific Coast Air Museum by the Air Force Museum staff.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force (Air Force Museum), in addition to its own heralded aviation collection in Dayton, Ohio, manages nearly 33,000 items on loan to field museums and domestic and international heritage sites. It also manages more than 6,400 historical artifacts and aerospace vehicles on loan to 454 civilian museums, cities, municipalities and veterans' organizations throughout the world. Only 103 private civilian Air Museums such as the Pacific Coast Air Museum have ever received certification from the Air Force Museum.

The certification means that the Pacific Coast Air Museum has been judged to have achieved the highest professional standards outlined by the American Association of Museums.

According to Dave Pinsky, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Air Museum, the Air Force Museum staff commented that the Pacific Coast Air Museum’s aircraft collection was amongst “the best restored and best maintained aircraft collection they had ever seen in a private Air Museum”.

In addition to being a prestigious certification recognizing the Pacific Coast Air Museum as achieving high professional standards, the Air Force Museum certification means that the Pacific Coast Air Museum is eligible to receive Air Force Museum aircraft and artifacts on loan from the Air Force Museum. According to Executive Director Dave Pinsky, the museum staff is working on the loan of several artifacts to augment the SR-71 Blackbird display at the museum, an aircraft Pinsky flew while in the Air Force.

The Pacific Coast Air Museum restores, maintains and displays historic aircraft, preserves and displays Sonoma County aviation history, and provides an educational venue for the community, especially for schoolchildren.

The Pacific Coast Air Museum also produces the annual two day “Wings Over Wine Country” Air Show on the third weekend of August each year.