Southern California’s Lyon Air Museum will celebrate its second anniversary Saturday, Dec. 10.
Activities include:
• 10 a.m. – Doors open.
• 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. – Santa Claus will be available for pictures with children (bring your own camera). Additionally, museum management is requesting that all visitors bring a new unwrapped toy of at least $10 in value for the U.S. Marine Corps “Toys for Tots” Holidays gift-giving program.
• 2 p.m. – Weather permitting, as part of the museum’s ongoing “History Takes Flight” program, the C-47 “Willa Dean” – a gem among Lyon Air Museum’s aircraft collection – will take off for a flyover.
• 4 p.m. – Museum closes.
Lyon Air Museum opened its doors on Dec. 10, 2009. Groundbreaking for the museum took place in 2007 under the direction of Maj. Gen. William Lyon, USAF (Ret). Gen. Lyon, who served as Chief of the U.S. Air Force Reserve from 1975 to 1979, served in Europe, the Pacific and North Africa during World War II and later flew combat missions in Korea. Currently, Gen. Lyon is Chairman of the Board and CEO of William Lyon Homes, Inc., Newport Beach, Calif. His passion for aviation history and youth education is the driving force behind his museum. The museum has on exhibit some of the world’s rarest operational aircraft and vehicles. Docent-led tours take visitors for a walk through history as they stroll among machines and artifacts that helped define the 20th century. In addition to the “Willa Dean,” the museum is home to an operational fleet of historically significant aircraft like the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Fuddy Duddy” and the DC-3 “Flagship Orange County.” Also on display is an original 1939 Mercedes-Benz Model G4 Offener Touring Wagon, used by Adolph Hitler in Germany and Poland until seized by the French Army at the war’s end.
For more information: LyonAirMuseum.org
