The San Diego Air & Space Museum will take part in a multi-institution exhibit entitled “Presidio to Pacific Powerhouse: How the Military Shaped San Diego."The exhibit tells the story of how the U.S. Military has impacted every aspect of our economic, political, and social growth and development. Presented in engaging, family-friendly formats, this comprehensive exhibition is a ten-site collaboration that starts at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park, with satellite exhibits at  the San Diego Air & Space Museum, Camp Pendleton Museum, Coronado History Museum, Leatherneck Aviation Museum, MCRD Command Museum, San Diego Maritime Museum, USS Midway Museum and your Veterans Museum and Memorial Center. Each museum is focusing on a different aspect of the military in San Diego. The entire 10-site experience opens April 27^th.

As one of the satellite contributors, the San Diego Air & Space Museum will be featuring the story about the region’s aerospace manufacturing for the U.S. military. 

Perhaps greater than any other city in the nation, the San Diego area boasts a heritage rich in military manufacturing culture, encompassing over 100 years of technological advancement. From the birth of Naval Aviation on North Coronado Island in 1911, the local aerospace industry has flourished.  Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (later Convair), home of such famous aircraft as the B-24 Liberator and the PBY Catalina of WW II fame, the Air Force F-102 and F-106 interceptors, and the Atlas ICBM and space launch vehicle, relocated here in 1935. Ryan Aeronautical Company, manufacturer of thousands of World War II training aircraft and later a long series of military drones, sprouted from Ryan Airlines in the 1920s. Numerous ancillary organizations as well contributed to this history captured through San Diego Air & Space Museum exhibits.