Hiller Aviation Museum: Unofficial Guide

Photo: Elwood P. Dowd, CC0 (cropped)

The Hiller Aviation Museum, at San Carlos Airport on the San Francisco Peninsula, opened in 1998. It was founded by Stanley Hiller Jr., who as a teenager in 1944 built and flew the XH-44, the first successful coaxial helicopter in the United States, and went on to found Hiller Helicopters, whose UH-12 was one of the most widely used early helicopters. The building covers about 53,000 square feet and holds more than 50 aircraft, from early gliders and replicas of pioneer airplanes to helicopters, experimental craft and drones. Many of the exhibits have a Northern California connection, since the region has been a center of aviation experiment since the early 1900s.

This guide starts with the big Boeing 747 section, then moves through Hiller's own inventions, experimental aircraft, early flight and later aviation, ending at the hands-on areas, library and store. Allow two to three hours. The museum charges admission; check its official website for current hours, prices and events, since exhibits are moved and changed from time to time.

This is an independent Youseum tour. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the Hiller Aviation Museum; the museum's name is used only to identify the place this guide describes.

More on Wikipedia: Hiller Aviation Museum · Stanley Hiller · Hiller Aircraft

Stops on this tour

1. Boeing 747-100 Cockpit and Forward Fuselage
2. Hiller Flying Platform
3. Boeing Condor High-Altitude Reconnaissance UAV
4. NASA AD-1 Oblique Wing Research Aircraft
5. Wright Flyer Replica and Early Flight Exhibit
6. Black Diamond - 1910 California Pioneer Aircraft
7. Grumman HU-16 Albatross Amphibious Aircraft
8. Boeing 737-200 Cockpit
9. Flight Sim Zone
10. Women in Aviation Gallery
11. Aircraft Engine Collection
12. Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star
13. San Francisco Airport Control Tower Beacon
14. Drone Plex and Future of Flight Exhibit
15. Michael King Smith Research Library and Museum Store

More tours nearby

• San Carlos History Walk (1 mi) - From Lamchin villages and a stone depot to a 1917 airfield and radio tubes: a walking loop through the City of Good Living.
• Redwood City History Walk (2 mi) - Lumber schooners, a dome that outlasted an earthquake and a slogan nobody could prove: a loop through Redwood City's old downtown.
• Canada College Campus Walk (4 mi) - An hour on a hillside community college in Redwood City: student services, the library, science labs, a theater, two pools and olive trees.
• College of San Mateo Campus Walk (5 mi) - A hilltop loop through a 1963 modernist campus: student services, arts, athletics, a planetarium and the bay spread out below.