Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing

My hubby's job had a New Year's casino night party here last night. The space was very large! It held 700 people! Approximately 15,000 square feet of hangar space!

It was a very different, but cool thing to see airplanes inside of the venue. We took a picture of one of the airplanes outside and one of the airplanes inside the venue. I took a couple of videos showing how spacious it was. They have a stage for a band, DJ, or performers. From what I read on their website, they have a list of caterers they work with. I don't know which one they had yesterday, but the food was delicious! They also had several cashless bars inside the venue to order drinks from.

The only things that I didn't like were that they don't have restrooms inside, so the company rented "fancy porta potties". Another thing was the parking situation. They don't have a lot of parking space so we had to take an Uber to get there and back, but overall, it was nice and great for big events.

What an amazing experience we had at this fabulous museum. Our docent, Donald Senecal was so kind and welcoming. His vast knowledge base and ability to communicate to both adults and children made for a wonderful afternoon.

We took our grandkids, ages 7 and 9, on a Saturday afternoon. We toured the inside of the museum first, learning history and viewing artifacts from the past. The center of the hanger contains numerous planes from the WW ll era that still fly today.

Outside we went into a huge cargo plane, a non functioning helicopter and saw a number of other aircraft.
Everyone there was so welcoming and helpful.

If you've never been to this museum, you've gotta go.

Free parking out front. Oh and there's also a small gift shop with lots of goodies.

Very cool museum. It showcases WWII planes that are in excellent condition. They have some fun events like presentations of some of the planes they have. I just attended an event about the Hellcat given by the guy who can fly one.
Lots of very friendly and helpful volunteers.

You can go into some of the planes.

They also have air shows occasionally. This museum is at the Camarillo airport. A must see for WWII air defenses enthusiasts.

Great aviation museum that shouldn't be missed.

Needed to kill some time as I was spending the night in Camarillo. The place wasn't crowded, in fact our group was it. Donations were 10 bucks each, which might be a bit much for a large group (It's a suggested amount). What we got was a personalized tour from a docent which was worth much more than the price of admission. We were there for an hour and asked a million questions during the tour. Amazing.

-There are planes in the hanger, many of which are active and in use.
-There are some climb-aboard planes on the tarmac outside.

- Much friendlier than the aviation museum in Palm Springs.
- Good for kids
- Get to see some real working vintage planes being restored.

We just had our Company Christmas Party here over the weekend.
I can not say enough about LaTanya and the 2 young men that helped us throughout the evening.
Our owner has even asked me to book it for next year and I keep having employees come by my office and tell me what a great venue.
This is not the Ritz-Carlton. It is a hanger with some planes and an open area for your tables etc. For us it was perfect. We had our favorite taco-man (employees request), a DJ and casino tables. We were able to decorate and make the place look festive.
LaTanya and crew......thank you so much for such a great evening.

Thoroughly enjoyed my visit here! It's rare I get to experience these planes in this capacity. The facilities are clean and the planes are absolutely interesting to see and read up on. I'll definitely be back with my nephew who looooves planes!

Venue is awesome for a wedding! So unique and special. Only problem is the coordinator La Tanya made many empty promises that came with a bad attitude on the day of our wedding. We had to do everything ourselves from sound, to opening/closing hangar doors, asking endlessly for planes to be displayed she said would be no trouble only to find out they weren't available...until my fiancé had to ask a pilot and he claimed it was fine to use!!
It was as if we were bothering her and were in her way after we paid good money to rent out the space. She also was never to be found when we needed her. It took 20minutes if not more to track her down at times. Even the other staff couldn't find her! (She doesn't give out her cell and barely responds to emails)
Also, our guests arrived and saw me in my dress because they forgot to close the museum for us so the guests entered. What a disaster!!

If you hire your own wedding planner, this might be a wonderful place for you! Our guests loved it but BOY was it difficult to work with La Tanya. Wish she would be more accommodating for the events they do.

WINGS, WEATHER, AND WINE, a three part series


The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) is an all-volunteer organization, with members from all walks of life, dedicated to preserving the history of combat aircraft which were flown by all military services of the United States. The CAF is a non-profit, privately funded and totally self-supporting 501 (c)3 organization. The CAF aircraft throughout the U.S. perform before nearly 10,000,000 spectators every year, recalling the hard-won victories of Americans and other freedom-loving people around the world during the years between 1939 and 1945. The Southern California Wing, CAF was formed in March, 1981, and now has 350+ members. The Wing holds an Open House during most summer holiday weekends. ~Commemorative Air Force Southern California Wing.

TOURS:
Available every day except Monday, form 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years' Day

OUR TOUR:
When me and The Crew aren't being trained on the trail by Mother Nature, we seek other houses to be schooled, and on this day, we headed just a bit north of Los Angeles to broaden our knowledge three ways, wings, weather, and vino. First stop, a one-hour docent led tour at the Commemorative Air-Force SoCal Wing.

A history lesson of aircrafts takes place inside aircraft hangers, where some of the rarest fully restored, some even ready to take flight, WWII aircraft in the World are stored. Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero, Supermarine Spitfire MK XIV, to name a few aircraft's on display at the time of our visit. For a nominal fee, several select aircraft's are available rides, by appointment.

Outside the hanger, there were a couple larger WWII aircraft's, one available for boarding. If you expect first-class seating with fully reclinable leather chairs, your own tv screen, and free booze, you will be sorely disappointed. The interior is fairly close to 100% authentic. Heck! If our soldiers had all the amenities of First-Class, I highly doubt the war would have ended the way it did.

Looking for a large event space, say for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or other special events, or looking to include a WWII aircraft in your next video, commercial, or movie, they offer 5,000 square feet of space for table and seating arrangements up to 250 people. Check out their website for further information. http://hangarevents.com/hangar-rental/

CLOSING THE DOORS:
Our tour of the Commemorative Air-Force SoCal Wing was educational and enjoyable. Our docent offered a plethora of information in an easy to follow manner. If you are ever in the area, or have an hour or so opening on your calendar, check it out.

The Commemorative Air force Museum is definitely one of the more exciting Passport 2 History participants! Full disclosure: the real meat of this museum are the planes outside. They have a bunch of cool ones, and you're right out on the runway of the airport, so there are actual real planes taking off and landing all the time, which is cool.

The coolest part is that there are two planes and a helicopter that you can go into! My toddler loved it! He (literally) didn't want to leave each one to see the next. It was kind of a problem actually... But eventually after our guided tour, we were left to go at our own pace, so we literally went and sat in each of those planes and helicopter again for quite some time as my son for to push all the buttons and "steer".

This is definitely a great place to check out and take your toddler. It is a $10 suggested donation for adults, which while I understand it, felt a bit pricey as you're not going to be here too long. Not so much for going once... but this is the type of place I'd love to visit again and again with my toddler just for a half hour of sitting in the plane, and I wouldn't be able to afford that. The museum part is okay, but fairly small. It's definitely an afterthought to the planes.

If you're traveling from LA, there are a TON of places to see not far from here... so you could make a day or it. Check out The Western Foundation of Vertebrae Zoology, The Pleasant Valley Historical Society Museum and Botanical Gardens, The Antique Mall of Camarillo to name a few...

What a great museum and tour. Our docent was very knowledgeable and shared some interesting stories about the aircraft. I'm looking forward to going back one day and paying for a flight on some of the aircraft.