If you're intrigued by flying or aviation and its history, you won't want to miss a stop at the Wings of History Air Museum in San Martin, just a few minutes from Gilroy. Located midway between San Jose and Monterey on US-101, it makes an easy addition to a South Bay day trip or a Central Coast road trip.
Boasting a collection of hundreds of model airplanes, the only certified wooden propeller manufacturing shop west of the Mississippi, and one of the most accurate full-size replicas of the airplane the Wright Brothers flew, the non-profit civil aviation museum promises a fun afternoon for the entire family.
When you arrive, check into the museum inside the Restoration Hangar and gift shop. Then head outdoors to one of the two hangars to view the exhibits or ask for a tour from one of the museum docents, including Tim Moriarty, who started volunteering for the museum about five years ago.
Like a tailor for airplanes, Moriarty said the museum offers a variety of custom propellers that are entirely handmade – a painstaking process involving pressing, laminating, cutting, and shaping hardwood that takes months to complete. It also repairs and refurbishes wood propellers.
"People restore old airplanes and need the appropriate propellers," Moriarty explained.
The exhibits housed in two hangars are either on loan or donated to the museum and organized by "how best we can squeeze it in," Moriarty said. Many of the model airplanes were once featured in the now closed Flying Lady Restaurant, a combination restaurant and museum in Morgan Hill.
Full-scale airplanes on display include gliders built in the 1920s and 1930s, an acrobatic airplane with an open cockpit designed to sustain upside down flight, a Kittyhawk electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, a Hiller helicopter, and a 1932 Penguin that was used to train pilots how to taxi on runways.
Other must-see exhibits include memorabilia from the estate of Naval Commander Robert Aumack, who served more than 28 years with the U.S. Navy and was the leader of the Blue Angels in the 1960s. His family donated the collection.
The expanding women in aviation exhibit, highlighting women's contribution to aviation including Bessie Coleman, is also noteworthy. Coleman was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license and is the earliest known Black person to hold an international pilot's license, earning it in 1921.
There is also a military collection, donated by the Livingston family, including a replica of the nose of a Consolidated B-24D Liberator, a B-24D Liberator cockpit, as well as numerous World War II era bombsights.
Younger aviation enthusiasts will enjoy sitting in the cockpit of a Vickers Viscount, a retired British medium-range turboprop-powered airliner first flown in 1948, and taking a turn around the gift shop replete with model airplane kits, toys, clothes, souvenirs, aviation-related art, and discounted aviation history books.
Originally known as the California Aircraft Museum, the museum was incorporated in 1988 and is entirely volunteer run, including a "teen team," made up of students who may earn community service hours for school.
"Our mission is to educate people and hopefully entertain at the same time," said Museum President Don DeBold. "We are dedicated to promoting aviation history through education, preservation, restoration and flight."
The museum's two-acre property, which is adjacent to the San Martin Airport, was purchased in 1979 from Irv Perch, owner of the former Flying Lady Restaurant. Development on the property started in 1980 when the Club House was moved from the old Morgan Hill Airport to the site. The Restoration Hangar was built in the early 1980s and followed by Hangars 1 and 2 from 1992 to 1994.
Interested in doing more than just visiting the museum? The museum gives talks to students about aviation history and is seeking additional volunteers, DeBold said.
Mark your calendars for October 17, 2026 when the museum partners with the San Martin Airport for the annual open house and Food Truck Fly-in.
The Wings of History Air Museum is located at 1277 Murphy Ave., San Martin. The museum is open Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The entrance fee is a small nominal donation. For more information, visit https://www.wingsofhistory.org/.
