Beginning in seventh grade, Michael T. Stowe began excavating World War II artifacts from around Millville Municipal Airport.[1]
Establishment
Seeking a place to display his collection, Stowe founded the Millville Municipal Airport Museum in 1984. It opened in May of the following year in Building 35 following renovations.[1] The museum moved to the larger Building 1 in 1985 and was incorporated three years later.[2][3] A year prior, Stowe recovered aircraft parts of a P-47 from the bottom of the nearby Union Lake.[4] After being forced to close for a year due to building problems, the museum reopened in 1989 with a new name, the Millville Army Air Field Museum and a plan to build a half-scale replica of a P-47.[5]
The museum acquired the collections of the Philadelphia Seaplane Base Museum in 2000.[6]
Following the demolition of three historic structures at the airport in early 2004 and a proposal to tear down a fourth, plans for a historic district were introduced.[7][8][9] In the meantime, the museum had expanded its focus to include the post-World War II-era and grown to include a total of three buildings.[10]
The city proposed reducing the size of the historic district and demolishing derelict buildings in 2016.[9] Two years later, the museum began renovating Building 31, which originally housed the quartermaster's office, to use as a shop and collections storage in 2018.[11]
Facilities
The Henry E. Wyble Historic Research Library & Education Center is located at the museum.[12]
The museum also features a series of five exterior murals depicting a various scenes related to the airport's history, such as a P-47 Thunderbolt on a gun boresight range and the World War II-era fire department at the base.[14][15][16][a] Also located outside is a monument dedicated on the 75th anniversary of the airport.[18]