Mid Atlantic Air Museum

Established in 1980, by father and son Gene and Russ Strine, both accomplished aviators in their own right, around the acquisition of a rare Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter. The rare P-61 had crashed high atop Mt. Cyclops on the island of New Guinea in January of 1945. The Strines had always dreamed of establishing a museum but not with such lofty goals as retrieving a WWII fighter off of the top of a 7000 foot mountain in the middle of the Pacific. Some 40 years later, the Mid Atlantic Air Museum flourishes with a collection of 125 aircraft, memorabilia displays, archives, as well as a membership base of more than a thousand people, including that Northrop P-61 nightfighter that the Strines successfully recovered. The museums ultimate success is attributed to its diverse volunteer base who staff the museum shop, restoration areas, and who come together the first full weekend of June each year to host the Museum’s World War II Weekend, the largest reenactment event of its kind in North America.