The Hiller Aviation Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum that was opened to the public in 1998 by helicopter designer and inventor Stanley Hiller Jr. The museum showcases more than 50 aircraft spanning more than a century of aviation history. Stanley Hiller Jr. Over 108,000 people visit the museum annually, including more than 10,000 students from kindergarten through high school from the surrounding area. Since it first opened its doors, the museum has welcomed more than 1.7 million guests. The Hiller Aviation Museum is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
The Museum commemorates the spirit of discovery and ingenuity of aviation pioneers whose creativeness made the dream of flying a reality. It is a unique cultural asset and a resource for lifelong learning for the varied communities that make up the San Francisco Bay Area. K-12 school curricula in history and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including interactive, hands-on programs developed in conjunction with NASA, are supported by core museum programs for children and adolescents that are based on state and national academic standards.
The Museum’s Rich Past and Present
Stanley Hiller Jr., a pioneer in the field of helicopters, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Hiller Aviation Museum, which first welcomed visitors in June of 1998.
The museum first opened its doors to the public in the 1970s. A warehouse in Redwood City houses a collection of unusual aircraft that was amassed by Stanley; however, entry to the facility is restricted to the general public and requires prior arrangement for visits. The ever-expanding collection featured historically significant early aircraft, one-of-a-kind prototypes, and cutting-edge test vehicles, some of which originated from the Hiller Aircraft Company between the years 1944 and 1964. Other manufacturers also contributed to the collection.
The aircraft collection demonstrates the significance of maintaining an inventive and exploratory mindset at all times. These qualities distinguished Stanley during his decades-long career as a pioneer in the helicopter manufacturing industry. They were a reflection of Stan’s own engagement in the history of aviation in Northern California, in which he developed unique aircraft that the rest of the world had never seen before, ranging from personal flying platforms to ramjet-tipped rotorcraft.
Stanley Hiller Jr. was aware that in order to make headway in resolving global transportation difficulties, of which aviation was a crucial component, an unyielding capacity for invention was essential. He understood that the strength of the Bay Area lay in its capacity to provide the human capital, scientific expertise, forward-thinking attitudes, and financial resources essential to the advancement of aviation and scientific research in the 21st century. Stanley’s dream was to establish a museum whose mission would be to convey both the depth of this history and the hope it inspires for the future.
In order to make this dream a reality, the Board of Directors of the museum constructed a building that has the adaptability to store and display awe-inspiring examples of aviation technology, to tell the stories of courageous aviation pioneers, and to provide facilities that allow the community to come together and explore science and technology through the lens of aviation.
Since June 1998, when it first opened its doors to the general public, the museum has gone from strength to strength.
