​Inside Denver’s Wings Over the Rockies: A Treasure Trove of Aerospace

A good air museum is a treasure for pilots—a great one is a treasure for everyone.

The Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, with its separate 15-acre Exploration of Flight campus, qualifies as a great air museum. The Denver facility is a treasure that celebrates our military and civilian aerospace history, the myriad people who made it happen and, welcoming the future, uses forward-looking technology in teaching how to be involved in what’s to come in aviation and space.

The History

What would become the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum started as a small part of a large Army Air Corps base in 1937. Beginning in 1988, an evolving group of volunteers who recognized the contributions of the tens of thousands of people who served and trained at what became Lowry Air Force Base kept some aircraft (parked outdoors), memorabilia, records, newspaper clippings, and jotted notes of the human history, events, and aircraft in a space devoted to keeping memories alive and called the Lowry Heritage Museum. 

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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Volunteers stored what they could collect from the time Lowry was established after the Army Air Corps reacted to the deterioration and several fires at its Chanute Field in Illinois by soliciting bids for a replacement training facility in 1934. With the military’s budget cut repeatedly during the depths of the Depression, there wasn’t money to make needed fixes to the badly neglected buildings at Chanute, and it was determined it would be cheaper to build new. 

Denver submitted a bid and followed up by purchasing a tuberculosis sanitarium and grounds. The Works Progress Administration converted the grounds to an airfield, and in 1937 the Denver Branch of the Air Corps Technical School was formed with departments of photography and armament. Those departments were only a first hint at the magnitude of the base that would later that year be named Lowry Field after Francis Lowry, the only Colorado aerial observer killed in World War I.

In addition to the often-hectic aircraft operations routine to an air base, Lowry would be dedicated to training the thousands of enlisted men and officers for the hundreds of specialized jobs that would be required to integrate into the process of hurling mechanical invective at the country’s enemies in WWII. 

An 8,550-foot paved runway was completed in 1941 in recognition that the heavy bombers being developed were going to require much more concrete than in the Air Corps’ inventory. It also served notice that the base and its buildings were going to need to be massive to handle the needs of an aerial wing of the U.S. Army that was growing at a rate unimaginable even a few years earlier. Hangar One, the home of the main part of the museum, covers 100,000 square feet and can hold a B-52—an aircraft not even on the drawing board when the hangar was built. 

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As the Army Air Corps became the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and then the U.S. Air Force in 1947, Lowry grew and evolved.

Even after WWII, in addition to flight operations, Lowry was a school. It taught virtually everything and everyone in the Air Force—photographers (air, ground and intelligence for aerial reconnaissance); bombardiers; accountants; clerks; pilots; flight engineers; operational crewmembers; combat reporters; armorers; rocket propulsion experts; radar-operated fire-control system crewmembers; missile crewmembers; handlers of nuclear weapons, and maintainers of gun and rocket sights to name a few. Thousands graduated from the schools annually. According to Wings Over the Rockies museum curator Stewart Bailey, there were 20,000 people on the base at any given time.

The U.S. Air Force Academy inducted its first class of cadets in 1955 at Lowry, which would be its home for three years while the current AFA facility was constructed in Colorado Springs. In 1966 the Air Force ceased flight operations at Lowry, closing all runways. However, a variety of aircraft remained on the base as they were essential for the training that continued to be conducted until the base was closed in 1994. 

The Lowry volunteers didn’t shut down when the base did. Instead, joined by civilian volunteers, they successfully petitioned the Air Force and the city of Denver to turn over a portion of it to them for a museum. The transfer of Hangar One and adjacent land took place in 1994, and the museum was formed. Through hard work, extensive fundraising, and perseverance, Wings Over the Rockies became Colorado’s official air and space museum in 1997.

What started as a determined group of volunteers has grown to one of the larger collections of historic military jet aircraft with a nice mix of significant civilian aircraft presented in a way that helps bring them to life. There are large-screen videos beside several of the aircraft, many featuring descriptions by those who flew and maintained them. Many of the volunteer docents worked with the aircraft before they retired from the military and now bring a personal touch to their tours.

As we talked with Bailey about the museum, he emphasized that the people behind it wanted it to be much more than a display of “just another silver airplane.” He said they sought to bring to life how the aircraft came to be and the thought processes of those involved in designing, flying, and servicing them.

Exploring Inside

There’s a desire to look up and understand how a 100,000-square-foot area could be covered with a clear span that left all the floor space open. The technology of 90 years ago took the much smaller, wood-truss structure design of WWI hangars and hugely inflated it using steel so that airplanes not even conceived could fit inside without effort. 

There’s so much to see immediately. The floor, save for the very center, is covered with aircraft of all shapes and sizes. Around the perimeter and on the mezzanine sit galleries in rooms dedicated to such things as the Colorado Air National Guard, military uniforms, avionics, Lowry AFB, cameras, armaments, Colorado astronauts, and flight breakthroughs. 

A Douglas B-18A Bolo is displayed without the right engine cowling, allowing a clear view of its 1,000 hp Wright R-1820-53 radial engine. There are only six B-18s left in the world, and it feels appropriate that the museum has one because a B-18 was the first airplane to land on Lowry’s newly built unpaved runway in 1938. It was to be used for training because the bomber was already obsolete. It’s a striking juxtaposition to the B-52—the type parked in front of the museum—which is still in service after more than 70 years. Consider that airframe and engine development was moving so fast at the time that the first B-18 landed at Lowry, having only been in service four years, and its 216 mph maximum speed and puny armament made it so out of date that it would have been a slow-motion death trap against fighters that were already more than 100 mph faster.

The display includes a video with detailed information on the development of the bomber during the depths of the Depression as the Army tried to get the most for every scarce dollar. Douglas took the DC-2, increased the wingspan slightly, moved the wings from a low- to a mid-fuselage position while deepening the fuselage to allow space for a bomb bay. It also created a Plexiglas nose for a bombardier and nose gunner and added a top turret. Spending some time looking at the airframe it’s evident how hard Douglas worked to keep manufacturing costs down by using as many components from the DC-2 production line as possible. 

The Bolo on display was a bombardier trainer during the war—although not at Lowry. After the war it was sold and used as a freighter, crop duster, and survey aircraft. In 1958 it was caught running guns to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and confiscated by the U.S. Border Patrol. Now owned by the Air Force, it was loaned to Wings Over the Rockies, where its painstaking volunteers restored it to its prewar bomber configuration.

A walk around the floor of the huge hangar is initially sensory overload as one famous aircraft after another is encountered. A Bell UH-1M “Huey” gunship is displayed—shark’s teeth and all—sitting in a revetment as it would have appeared when it flew in combat during the Vietnam War. Colonel Bill McPherson flew the helicopter on display when he was in Vietnam, acquired it after the war, and piloted it around Colorado to meet veterans’ groups before donating it to the museum. 

Nearby, also in a Vietnam revetment display, is a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Placards and a video provide information about this incredibly versatile Mach 2+ fighter that served with the Air Force, Navy, and Marines as well as with 15 other nations. This cannon-equipped fighter also represents the learning curve that went on in combat after military leaders originally decreed that the F-4 be armed only with missiles for “modern” air-to-air engagements. Real life proved that to be a serious mistake, so guns were added, allowing greatly increased success. The fighter on exhibit was used in flight and ground test programs for the Air Force before being transferred to Lowry in 1982 as a munitions loading trainer—yet another airplane that served at Lowry to educate Air Force personnel that continues in a new life teaching the public about U.S. military history. 

Tucked between an F-102A Delta Dagger and F-101Voodoo sits the diminutive but terrifying F-104C, a Mach 2.2 design from the 1950s with a total wingspan of only 21 feet, 9 inches, and a wing loading that made for challenging handling at low speeds. It set numerous altitude and speed records, including flight at over 100,000 feet. It was a lethal weapon in the hands of a well-trained, experienced pilot. Unfortunately, the process of getting pilots to the needed level of skill proved difficult, and the series had a frighteningly high accident rate. The display airplane is another of those in the museum that saw combat, flying with the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron from Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base during the Vietnam War. 

The museum is arranged so that it’s possible for visitors to move close to the aircraft. It’s fascinating to be able to clearly see the “alert start” switch on the landing gear of the B-1A Lancer. It was a button slapped by crewmembers that started the engines as they raced up into the jet for an immediate takeoff. You can also see the wing-folding mechanism in the Grumman EA-6B Prowler and the ducting for the vectored thrust capability of the AV-8B Harrier, which boasted the third-highest number of combat hours of any Harrier. The Harrier was the centerpiece of the museum’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U. S. Marine Corps on November 9, 2025. 

Yes, Wings Over the Rockies gives you a lot to experience.

There’s the innovative but hopelessly screwy Hiller XROE-1 Rotorcycle—a tiny, folding helicopter that was to be dropped to downed fighter pilots. A pilot could unfold it, fire up the diminutive piston engine and—if they knew how to operate the cyclic, collective, and anti-torque pedals of a helicopter—fly it home. One of seven that survived from the sensibly abandoned project is on display. 

Then there’s the Schweizer SGS 2-33 glider used for training at the Air Force Academy. It’s not just any academy glider. Once the museum received it on loan and went through the logbooks,  volunteers discovered that one Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger made training flights in it as a cadet. Those lessons paid off some years later when he safely landed a far larger glider carrying 155 people on the Hudson River—an Airbus A320 that lost both engines after hitting a flock of birds. 

Future Forward

Looking more deeply at what’s offered by Wings Over the Rockies at both its Lowry location and  Exploration of Flight campus is akin to peeling the layers of an onion—there is simply so much to see.

At both campuses there’s an Aerospace Exploration Pathway that prepares students in grades 6-12 for careers in aerospace—“hands-on experiential learning in a real-world context that allows students to find out, firsthand, what it takes to succeed in the aerospace industry.” At the Exploration of Flight campus there are classes on becoming a drone pilot and how to make a living doing so, a pathway toward obtaining a pilot certificate that includes ground school, and some scholarships for flight training that provide funds raised by the Captain Jeppesen Foundation.

There’s also a Teacher Flight program that provides a “total immersion in the aviation industry for K-12 formal educators with direct support toward certifying new Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways.” Former NASA astronaut Eileen Collins serves as the honorary chair of the program and supplies information in a video on the museum’s website. 

There are summer camps, Scout programs, teacher workshops, and field trips. Many flight simulators can be rented for pilot training. Speakers regularly are invited to make presentations at the Exploration of Flight campus. Want to go to the Air Force Academy? There’s a good chance that there will soon be another program featuring current cadets talking about their experiences applying to and attending the academy. 

Chances are, you won’t be able to get enough of your time at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum. Its location on a former Air Force base renowned for its dedication to teaching and learning is somehow symbolic of the ongoing goals of the museum. It’s successfully carrying on the biggest part of its avowed mission: “To inspire innovation and action for the next generation of aviation and space explorers.”

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‘Lest We Forget’

One of the most powerful displays at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Denver is a sculpture entitled “Lest We Forget: The Mission.”

The three, life-size bronze statutes of World War II fighter pilots on and around a ready room bench are a duplication of a part of the full sculpture that was first unveiled at the museum and is now on display at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Conceived by artist Fredric Arnold at age 87, he completed it at 94. 

At 19, Arnold joined the Army Air Forces shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack and was trained as a fighter pilot, going into combat in North Africa in P-38 Lightnings. Of the original 14 pilots who initially went into combat together against experienced German fighter pilots, Arnold was one of only two still alive after six months.

Arnold completed 50 combat missions, being shot down once and escaping. Knowing that he’d be killed by the Germans if he were captured because he was Jewish and facing deep-seated antisemitic hostility from many of his squadron mates, he never believed he would survive the war. 

In 1998 Arnold learned that the only other surviving member of his cohort was dying and went to visit him in the hospital. His friend reminded him of the vow the two had made that the last one standing would act to honor the 12 comrades lost in the war. 

Arnold’s honor to his comrades shows composites of fighter pilots he had known and flown with in a ready room at a mission briefing. In the current display, two pilots are sitting on a bench in full flying gear. This moving display is accompanied by a 20-minute video that explains Arnold originally created the sculpture to honor his 12 lost comrades but expanded it to recognize and honor the more than 88,000 Army aviators who lost their lives in World War II. 

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This feature first appeared in the June Ultimate Issue 971 of the FLYING print edition.