Air Zoo

Air Zoo, established in 1977 as the Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, anchors serious aviation and military heritage work on the edge of the Kalamazoo–Battle Creek International Airport in Portage. Its collection spans rare and historically significant aircraft, including an SR-71B Blackbird, illustrating the technological extremes of Cold War reconnaissance and the engineering demands of sustained Mach 3 flight. Many earlier aircraft in the collection remain airworthy, underscoring a preservation philosophy that values operational capability as much as static display. The institution also houses the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame and the Guadalcanal Memorial Museum, tying individual stories of pilots and units to broader campaigns in the Pacific and beyond. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, Air Zoo participates in a wider network of research and curation, bringing national-level interpretive standards into a regional setting. Ongoing restoration projects—ranging from World War I–era types to World War II Naval aircraft recovered from Lake Michigan—offer close study of materials, corrosion, and reconstruction methods, turning the museum into an active workshop in aviation conservation rather than a purely finished gallery.