This is a cool story. Good buddy Mike was visiting us here in Leftist Lunacy Land (i.e., the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, where I hang my hat) and we thought we were running out of things to do. Sue hopped on the Internet and found the Lyon Air Museum near John Wayne Airport in Orange County. I’d never heard of the place, but it was awesome. As expected, the Museum had the obligatory collection of restored World War II aircraft, but (to my surprise) the place also housed a great collection of vintage motorcycles and more than a few interesting cars. Take a look at the motorcycles.
The Museum was founded by Major General William Lyon, an entrepreneur and civic leader based in southern California. The William H. Lyon Company is one of the largest real estate developers in the world. General Lyon died a few years ago at age 97.
There are many interesting aircraft on display inside the Museum. One of the coolest exhibits was outside the display area, however, on the tarmac just outside. That’s the highly-polished B-25 that was General Lyon’s personal aircraft.
The Lyon Air Museum is located at 19300 Ike Jones Road in Santa Ana, California. You can learn more about the Lyon Air Museum here. Trust me on this: It’s worth the ride. You’ll have a good time.
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I see a Ford GT in that balcony shot! Nice!
There were several very cool cars there.
What an incredible experience! The cars, planes and motorcycles were the best I had seen. I had heard about the Museum and thanks to your beautiful wife, Susan, I finally got to see it. A great day with great friends. One of the best memories of my visit to Cali.
Next year I want to see the Peterson Museum. My fear is having to deal with LA traffic, but I will leave that up to you.
You got it, Mike. It was a great day.
Huh, never heard of this place, but great photos and info, and I’ve put it on the “to do” list! Thanks!
You bet. It was a cool place.
Hey Joe, Glad you finally made it to this great museum. We’ve visited a number of time and always enjoy the visit. They also host an event each year (except these pesky COVID years) where you can hitch a ride in one of these historic planes.
You might wanna check out another great museum just up Red Hill Ave a few miles; Marconi Automotive Museum. They sometimes have a few cool motorcycles on display too.
Thanks, Peter. We will check out the Marconi; it’s another one I did not know about.
It never seizes to amaze me the kind of things that you can find in your own back yard. Think of the number of times that you drove by there with no idea that museum existed, and it was a stone’s throw away. Cool place. I wonder who did the work on the motorcycles?
Whoever it was did it well.