Founded in 1983, the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Utah is a nonprofit that provides financial support to the Hill Aerospace Museum. Members of the foundation stand as guardians to aerospace history and help acquire and preserve artifacts that portray the country’s aircraft legacy. 

Through exhibits, educational programs, and a vast collection of aircraft, the Hill Aerospace Museum invites people from all around the country, and the world, to learn more about the history of flight. 

While the Hill Aerospace Museum is wholly owned by the United States Air Force, the Aerospace Heritage Foundation was created to support events and activities at the museum. 

Through fundraising events, grant writing, private donations and financial support from the state, the foundation also operates the Flight Line Gift Shop so visitors can purchase souvenirs and books. All proceeds go back to the museum.

“The mission of the Hill Aerospace Museum is to educate and inspire all ages, through history, with a focus on the United States Air Force, Hill Air Force Base, Utah Aviation and unique learning experiences,” said Aerospace Heritage Foundation Executive Director Robb Alexander. “We attract up to 300,000 visitors a year to the museum. Just before COVID, we had about 370,000 visitors that year.”

Early on, the foundation was instrumental in acquiring aircraft for the museum. In the early 1990s, a team from the foundation joined teams from the Air Force Reserve and the museum to retrieve and restore a B-24 that had crashed in the Aleutian Islands. Other aircraft at the museum are acquired through various methods, including taking in airplanes that are out of service from the Air Force. 

More than 70 different aircraft are featured at the museum, with the newest being an F-117 stealth fighter. There’s also an F-22 on site, in the process of being restored. 

“Since the Hill Air Force Base is the system program office for the F-22 worldwide, it made sense for that to come to this museum,” Alexander said. “We’ve just completed a new 90,000 square foot hangar. In fact, the general contractor turned the keys over to us yesterday. We’re going to be putting most of the aircraft that are outside inside… It’s so important to preserve these irreplaceable artifacts.”

Popular displays include the one-of-a-kind SR-71C, three F-16s, an A-10 Warthog, B-17 and B-24 bombers, a P-51 Mustang used during the Korean War, and a single-engine P-40 Warhawk that first flew in 1938. 

“We also just completed an ICBM exhibit. Hill Air Force Base is a leader in the world with the Air Force’s Minuteman missiles,” Alexander said. “The rocket engines are redone and everything was tested and all that comes under the auspices of Hill Air Force Base, which is a huge thing. A lot of people don't know that. This ICBM exhibit is really cool.”

The Aerospace Heritage Foundation organizes marketing efforts to promote events and activities at the museum, hoping to attract new visitors and gain more visibility. It also develops and maintains the AerospaceUtah.org website. 

Donations made through the foundation go toward museum operations, STEM education programs, restoration and capital projects, exhibit development, outreach and more. 

“We’re just excited to be part of the community,” he said. “We have more than 100 volunteers that donate close to 30,000 hours a year. They’re the backbone, they’re the docents that take people on tours and answer questions and they do a yeoman’s task.”

The Hill Aerospace Museum is located on the northwest corner of Hill Air Force Base, open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is free but monetary donations are accepted.