Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum
Santa’s Coming to Town
Santa’s Coming To Town (Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum: 2017 N. Greenfield Rd, Mesa, AZ 85215)
Getting into the holiday spirit in a place where snow is about as rare as it gets can be difficult. Luckily, the home of Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum delivers Christmas cheer every year when we need it most. Every year on the first of December, I take a trip to the museum to get front row seats and watch Santa fly in to town! At 11am, we all gather outside and cheer as we see the jolly Saint Nicholas himself descend into our lovely city on the C-47 Skytrain, nicknamed “Old Number Thirty” by home town locals. The museum employees turn into elves for the occasion, and help facilitate a professionally-run Santa photo-op for all the families. The whole event benefits the local fire station’s toy drive, so you can get in for free with an unwrapped present! It’s such a joy to go every year and know that I’m helping make someone’s Christmas special. And of course, I never pass up an opportunity to go to Air Force Museum!
The museum houses a fully functional hangar with dozens of vintage aircraft artifacts, including many that you can walk into and check out the original interiors. My personal favorite plane is the TWA Ford Tri-motor that hangs from the ceiling in the hangar. Introduced in 1926, this passenger plane was once the most popular model in the civilian aircraft industry. Surrounding the more than 50 planes on display are digital displays playing interesting and well-produced short documentaries about the history of flight in America. I spend a few hours every time I go, just to enjoy the whole experience. It’s a self-guided museum, but there are plenty of friendly docents who love to chat about the awesome collection they have. Many of staff are veterans of the Air Force, and they provide a unique first-hand perspective of these historic vehicles.
The big attraction for the museum is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they offer to fly on an authentic Warbird. They offer experiences catered for all ages and interests. Those seeking a little Zen can take a calm scenic tour of the beautiful Sonoran Desert or keep moving up to Usery Mountain Regional Park. The more daring among us might enlist for a heart-racing midnight mission on Old Number Thirty, a historic warbird that flew on multiple top-secret missions over Italy during World War II. There really is nothing that can compare to the thrill of flying in an authentic vintage plane, thousands of feet above your hometown.