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Museum Spotlight: Tillamook Air Museum

The Convair 880 and F-14 Tomcat are two favorites at the Oregon aviation museum.

Tillamook Air Museum's Convair 880. [Courtesy: Tillamook Air Museum]
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Key Takeaways:

  • Tillamook Air Museum curator Christian Gurling's personal favorite aircraft is the Convair 880 forward fuselage, chosen for its sentimental family connection as his grandfather worked on its development.
  • The F-14 Tomcat is the most popular aircraft among visitors at the Tillamook Air Museum, largely due to its iconic status from the *Top Gun* films, with the museum's specific F-14 having appeared in the original movie.
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We all have our favorite aircraft—even the people who are charged with caring for them at the aviation museums across the country. Since December is the birthday month of powered flight, FLYING magazine reached out to museums across the country to find out which aircraft are the personal favorites of the museum staff as well as the museum visitors.

Tillamook Air Museum, Tillamook, Oregon

Asking Tillamook Air Museum curator Christian Gurling what is his favorite airplane in the museum collection proved to be a challenge, and a lot like asking a parent which is their favorite child. After careful consideration Gurling told us he is partial to the Convair 880 forward fuselage that the museum has in its possession—because of a family connection.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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