Joe Davies Heritage Airpark

Joe Davies Heritage Airpark sits on the edge of Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, a setting that immediately signals its purpose: preserving the hardware of high-performance military aviation where much of it was actually conceived, built, or flown. Established in 1998 on land donated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the airpark was created to honor aircraft associated with Plant 42, a major center for United States military and aerospace programs. The later renaming for Joe Davies, a former Plant 42 commander and local civic leader, underlines the close relationship between the installation, the city, and the industry that shaped the Antelope Valley. More than twenty retired U.S. military aircraft are displayed outdoors, including the NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft N911NA, a modified Boeing 747 used to ferry Space Shuttle orbiters. For enthusiasts, the value lies in seeing production and test airframes in the geographic context of their development, examining airframe lines, materials, and modifications up close, and observing how a community museum tackles the long-term preservation of large, aging aerospace structures in a demanding desert environment.