As seen in early September, the first phase of the Planes of Fame Air Museum project at the Santa Maria Public Airport should be done by early 2027, a representative said recently. While work seemingly stalled on the huge hangar, progress occurred on a smaller facility inside the fence line along with completing infrastructure such as sewer lines.
As seen in early September, the first phase of the Planes of Fame Air Museum project at the Santa Maria Public Airport should be done by early 2027, a representative said recently. While work seemingly stalled on the huge hangar, progress occurred on a smaller facility inside the fence line along with completing infrastructure such as sewer lines. Credit: Janene Scully / Noozhawk photo

The expansion of the Planes of Fame Air Museum into Santa Maria now won’t be done until early 2027.

Spectators attending the Central Coast AirFest this month most likely saw the humongous partially constructed hangar south of the Radisson Hotel Santa Maria.

Planes of Fame Museum Director Jane Hinton provided an update to the Santa Maria Public Airport District Board of Directors earlier this month.

“I was supposed to be hosting a soft opening this weekend, but clearly not,” Hinton said as she previewed plans for the annual Central Coast AirFest that the museum has organized for the past five years. 

“We’re still hoping early 2027. The vast majority of the delays have been due to the master development of the site — putting in a retention basin and the sewer lines. It was raw dirt when we got out there, so there was a lot of infrastructure that had to go in. A lot of dirt work.”

For months, Building Alpha, the 56,000-square-foot hangar, sat seemingly untouched, but the large steel trusses assembled earlier this year finally were lifted into place in August after sitting in the ground. 

Hinton explained earlier this year that for safety reasons, the trusses and other roof elements were assembled on the ground and then raised into place since it’s easier to do that work 15 feet off the ground and not 35 feet up in the area. 

Crews also have working on another smaller structure, or Building Delta, inside the airport fence line where progress includes the walls in place. The aircraft restoration facility will help maintain the vintage aircraft that serve as flying museums for earlier eras of aviation. 

In total, the Planes of Fame facility will have four buildings on 23 acres of airport property with the first two making up phase one of the project. Two additional phases are planned. 

In February 2025, Planes of Fame representatives, city leaders and airport officials gathered for the project’s groundbreaking ceremony with a goal of opening in 2026.

The Santa Maria Valley has a rich history of aviation, taking off in the late 1920s when Capt. G. Allan Hancock launched a private aviation school teaching pilots at the site of today’s Allan Hancock College campus. 

World War II saw the flying school become a government contractor, training more than 8,400 aviation cadet student officers over five years at the Hancock College of Aeronautics.

The site of today’s airport also served as the Santa Maria Army Air Base, home initially to B-25 Mitchell bombers that ended up being too heavy for the runways. That led to the site converting to training P-38 Lightning fighter pilots.

Planes of Fame started in 1957 with recent operations based in Chino and later Arizona. The museum has more than 150 aircraft and plans to relocate several dozen to the Santa Maria campus once completed.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.