The Liberty Aviation Museum's Mission
To provide an adequate organization for historians, aircraft and vehicle preservationists and collectors interested in encouraging internationally the acquisition, restoration, operation, preservation, public education and display of historic aircraft, vehicles and related items.
About Liberty Aviation Museum
The Liberty Aviation Museum was established on December 7th 1991 with a handful of dedicated volunteers to showcase WW2 aircraft. In 1994 we had the opportunity to put on a well received air show at the Erie-Ottawa International Airport in Port Clinton, Ohio. This very fortunate turn of events led us to formally announce in 1996 our intent to locate our museum at the Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport.
Embracing the deep aviation heritage of the area we began to plan for a facility to include a hangar and museum along with a 1950's era themed Diner.
In 1994 we undertook a search to locate and return to the airport a flyable Ford Tri-motor, and in October of 1996 we were fortunate indeed to come into contact with Maurice Hovious - a world renowned Ford Tri-motor expert and restorer.
This initial contact later inspired Maurice Hovious to further his dialogue with Ken Benjamin who convinced Maurice to make this unique idea a reality. Since then an amazing amount of work has been completed by EAA Tin Goose Chapter 1247 volunteers on the restoration of a new Ford Tri-motor project sponsored by Maurice. This progress then led to the Establishment of the Tri-motor Heritage Foundation - taking up the torch to be the caretaker of this rare treasure.
In 2010 we acquired flyable vintage WW2 North American B-25 Mitchell Bomber. The 2011 season was spent training crews to fly her at air shows throughout the year. Our B-25 underwent comprehensive restoration work at Aero Trader in Chino, California over the winter of 2011/2012.
In 2011, the dreams of all three organizations to have a permanent place to call home became reality with the announcement that a Museum/Hangar facility would be built at the Erie-Ottawa International Airport. The museum facilities opened to the public in July of 2012, and was heralded by the arrival of the newly refurbished B-25, "Georgie's Gal", named after George V. Woodling, the museum's benefactor.
In 2014, we opened our new hangar addition to the public including our boathouse, main hangar (where restorations and maintenance are completed), and the WWII gallery.
The Liberty Aviation Museum is a 501c3 non-profit organization receiving no government funding.
