Mitchell Gallery of Flight | Southeastern Wisconsin’s Flight Heritage & Aviation Museum

Nice little free museum inside the public, non-secured area, concourse at Mitchell International airport in Milwaukee. Lots of aircraft models and a history of aviation from the Milwaukee area. Well worth the visit.

It's a great museum to learn our history. Hopefully you'll have time, before or after your flight to enjoy the gallery of flight.

A nice little museum to browse around while waiting in the airport. If you don't feel like reading, the models alone are fun to look at.

There is a pretty slick coin exhibit that is full of international currency. I enjoy looking at maps so it is fun to see where all the coins are from. I'm also a fan of the Lawson Airliner model too. The idea that a plane like that actually flew is amazing. This Gallery of Flight is a fun way to spend a little time whether you're coming or going.

Another great part of MKE, this is entertaining in the best way. We had time to kill and my kids walked around and learned for a half hour! So great!

Surprisingly nice little museum. Great info and a great way to kill time if necessary.

It's free, very small but has a lot of Aviation memorabilia.

Nice small aviation museum to check out

Have you ever seen a Congressional Medal of Honor? Within the main concourse of General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee is the Mitchell Gallery of Flight. Anyone who lives in Milwaukee is used to hearing the name, "Mitchell". Mitchell Park, Mitchell Street, Mitchell Building and some people even think "General Mitchell Field" refers to the airport being a center of "general" aviation. Not so! The namesake of the gallery and the airport was General William "Billy" Mitchell. For many years (and still today) the airport is fondly referred to as "Billy" Mitchell Field. There's even a B-25 Mitchell bomber mounted at the main entrance to the terminal. It all honors a hero and the man considered to be the "Father of the US Air Force." Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell was a native of Milwaukee and the grandson of a prominent Milwaukee business icon. Mitchell was a successful aviator in World War I. Mitchell was an incredible visionary and saw the importance of air power in warfare. He set about campaigning for the US military to develop this future asset. In the 1920s, he foresaw the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. His passionate fight on behalf of air power was rewarded with a court-martial. (You can see a 1955 movie called "The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell" if you haven't already.) Within the confines of the Mitchell Gallery of Flight, you'll find several displays paying homage to Wisconsin's aviation pioneers, including the namesake General William "Billy" Mitchell. Other displays honor notable Wisconsin aviators like Richard Bong, Lester Maitland, Lance Sijan and, of course, Captain James Lovell. You'll also find several scale models of important aircraft, an impressive prop collection and a model of the original terminal. A special display honors James Lovell and speaking of space, other displays describe AC-Delco and Astronautics that supplied NASA with critical instrumentation. You'll see a model of the Lawson Airliner, the first passenger airplane by Alfred Lawson who attempted to launch the airline business from Milwaukee. There's a model of the Hamilton Metalplane, an important contributor to the growth of the airline industry. Hamilton Metalplane was located in Milwaukee before the company was acquired by Boeing. Interpretive signing describes all the displays. I was there recently to see a presentation by two of the men behind a herculean effort to return to Wisconsin an important Douglas DC-3. It was once a part of North Central Airline's fleet of 32 such aircraft. The current struggle is to get it back to Wisconsin for restoration. Ah, but that is a fascinating story for another time and place. Mitchell Field is named for General Mitchell but how about all those other things in Milwaukee named Mitchell? Same man? No, his grandfather, Alexander Mitchell, another prominent Milwaukean most people know little about. As James Thurber used to say, "You could look it up." Meanwhile, next time you find yourself at General Mitchell International Airport, take a few minutes to visit the Mitchell Gallery of Flight. You'll be astounded at what you don't know about Wisconsin's place in aviation history.

I flew out of MKE over a dozen times before I stumbled across this little wonderful piece of history. As someone who loves a good museum and I love to fly, this was a really super find. Of course we know that the Mitchell Airport is named after Billy Mitchell, the "father" of the US Air Force. But the city has so many connections to flight and to space, it was really interesting to see so many of them together in one place. If you're early for a flight, or if you're waiting for someone to arrive, spend 15 or 20 minutes exploring here between the C and D terminals. Learn a bit about aviation history in Milwaukee!

I had to wait for my son's flight to arrive and this was a good way to kill some time. This little museum is the history of Mitchell airport. They have some old photos, models of various planes, and history on the mean the airfield of named after. If you find yourself with some extra time to kill while at the airport take a walk over and check out out.

Kinda cool to have a museum in the airport. It is located in an area before you go through security. Why I like this museum 1) Its FREE 2) Its a good way to kill time in the airport. I usually eat expensive airport food to kill time but this is another option. 3) Its small. I don't like museums, so I finished looking at the stuff in 3 minutes. 4) The planes are cool. And the badges are cool too. Stop by if you have time!

Very well put together museum. Surprised to find it inside the airport. Love finding these off to wall things to do. Shows a history of the area. Enjoyed spending a little time here to learn a bit of Wisconsin. Thanks for having it!

Wish I had more time to discover the Mitchell Gallery of Flight Air Museum. What a find! it's in the Milwaukee airport. It has lots and lots of model planes, war memorabilia, and aircrafts from history. Worth stopping in and visiting. A very nice display. Very informative. Ideally, you should have time to look at everything. Wish I had more time. This place is great! It's not large. I've been to some of the larger flight museums that could take days to thoroughly go through. This one would take a good hour or so to absorb everything. Small, but packs in a lot of cool stuff.

What a great find within the airport. I totally came on this by accident, and really enjoyed the exhibits. If you have a little time, be sure to take a look. It highlights the story General "Billy" Mitchell, for whom the airport is named. It includes a case with momentos from Astronaut Jim Lovell, Apollo 13. It also includes models of a Graf Zeppelin and a Boeing 757 airliner.

Nice gallery for a small airport. It adds to the charm of the easily manageable airport.

I didn't get to really explore this place, just look through the entrance. It really looks cool when you are on your way to security. Wish I'd had the time to really explore it.