History Headline

Flying Club
Army Air Field
Museum
P-47 Thunderbolt

History of the Museum Headline

The roots of the Millville Army Air Field Museum go back to the early 1970s. Millville Airport manager Lewis B. Finch had just completed eliminating the last apartments in former base buildings and looked forward to major industrial development at the airport. Most people in the community were aware the airport had been an army base, but knew no details of its history. This was Millville Airport when teenager Michael T. Stowe learned of some underground bunkers just south of the airport.

Stowe explored those bunkers and surrounding areas and later began to find related artifacts. For nearly ten years, he continued to collect artifacts and information, and in 1983 he approached city officials about a permanent place at the Millville Airport to display his collection. Stowe's original collection of artifacts and airfield data remains the cornerstone of the Millville Army Air Field Museum.

Mike Stowe shows off a bomber jacket
Museum founder, Michael T. Stowe and Frances Burt, examine her father's leather "A-2" flying jacket. Her father, Second Lieutenant Lee L. Pryor Jr, died in an P-47 accident near Cedarville on May 2, 1945.

The museum's collection has grown through donations of time, effort, and artifacts from surrounding community and the community of veterans who served at the Millville Army Air Field. Today, both the museum and Millville Airport continue to grow and prosper through the Delaware River & Bay Authority's management of the airport and the museum gaining recognition as a leader in World War II and post war aviation history.

 

What's New
03/15/2010
2010 Calendar of Events
Event Information for 2010 ...

01/12/2010
9th Annual Veterans Appreciation Day
9th Annual Veterans Appreciation Day Saturday, November 6, 2010 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Millville Army Air Field Museum ...

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