We were quite lucky to have been able to tour this museum as we passed by well before they were open, but one of the fly-boys from the museum spotted us skulking about and invited us in. There were already a few of the museum volunteers on hand that morning and they were happy to guide us around and relate a few stories.
Now housed in an 18,500 square foot hangar, the museum's focus is on the history of mountain flying in the west and particularly in Montana. They have several vintage aircraft on display, each with a history pertinent to local mountain aviation. They have, for example, the DC3 which dropped the firefighters into the
Mann Gulch Fire in 1949, 13 of whom perished in the fire. This airplane was found in West Memphis, Arkansas and returned to the museum. As well, they have accumulated many related artefacts which are also on display
The museum hosts many aviation related events and even hosted some of the airport's airshows. See the museum's history below.
History
The Museum of Mountain Flying was established in the summer of 1993 by Stan Cohen, Dick Komberec, and Steve Smith. It basically started because the old “boneyard” of Johnson Flying Service, three acres just east of the Missoula Airport was up for sale. The three decided to tie up this land and start some type of museum to honor and preserve the history of the premier mountain flying service in the Northern Rockies area from the late 1920s to the early 1970s stationed in Missoula, Montana.
The idea was to eventually build a museum on this property but it had no access to the airport so in 1994 Minuteman Aviation had half of a large hangar empty and offered to let us lease it for the museum’s beginnings. Several aircraft were available for display plus some original artifacts. In addition the National Smokejumpers Assoc. moved in as their national headquarters. In the summer of 1995 the museum sponsored a large airshow which brought thousands of people to the airport and made money for museum’s operations. Another airshow was put on in 1996 by the airport board but it failed to generate a profit. Led by board member and others, the museum obtained its non-profit status in 1994 which was a great help in acquiring aircraft and artifacts.
By 2000 the museum had acquired its C-45 Twin Beech from Northstar Aviation and a year later just by chance located the original DC-3 that dropped the Mann Gulch smokejumpers in August 1949, where 13 died in the fire. It was in West Memphis, Arkansas and $125,000 was raised by the board with tremendous help from Kathy Ogren. It was flown to Missoula but with no place to hangar it. By this time our hangar’s rent was going up to the point that we had to close or find someone to fund a hangar to house the DC-3 and a growing amount of aviation artifacts.
Local aviation enthusiast Rick Nash came forward and built our 18,500 square foot hangar just across the parking lot from the first one. It was opened in June 2002 with a large dance and celebration including the governor and her husband and many ex-JFS employees. We now pay rent to the airport and have had many, many aviation events in the pass decade including participating in the airport’s 2005 airshow. The museum has had a tremendous amount of local and national publicity and has had visitors from all over the world.
A number of local volunteers keep the museum open every day from Memorial Day weekend to mid-September. There are no paid employees. Many school, business, social and government groups have toured the museum and besides aircraft and artifacts from all over the area the museum has been used for dinners and memorial services. A well-stocked gift shop and new library are located in the hangar.
From The Museum