City of Irvine officials, Marine Corps representatives and members of the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum at the Great Park on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Dedicated to Marine Corps aviation history, the museum is slated to open in spring 2027.
With a partnership between the City of Irvine, the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum and with support from the Marine Corps, the planned 131,000-square-foot museum will host more than 40 aircraft and a number of interactive, walk-around exhibits. These exhibits include a flight simulator, augmented/virtual reality experiences, an oral history exhibit and a research library. The museum is planning to document Marine Corps aviation history from its beginnings in the 1920s through Desert Storm and the Iraq War.
The groundbreaking ceremony marks the museum’s formal return to Irvine. It was initially part of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro, which was closed in 1999 and is being redeveloped as part of the City of Irvine’s Great Park Framework Plan. The museum was moved to MCAS Miramar in San Diego before budget restrictions in 2021 forced it to find a new home.
Community contributors donated $5 million to help relocate the museum. The City of Irvine invested $20 million in the project and provided Hangar 297 to facilitate the storage and restoration of the museum’s aircraft, many of which had been unmaintained and exposed to the elements for over 20 years. Aircraft were relocated from San Diego to Great Park starting in 2024, with restoration work ongoing.
“Seeing the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum come home to its original location and serve as a beacon of history, valor and education is one of my proudest moments as the chair of the Great Park Board,” Great Park Board Chairman and Councilmember Mike Carroll said in a press release from the City of Irvine.
Two T-6 Texan aircraft conducted a flyover as part of the ceremony.
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is a central part of the 45-acre Cultural Terrace section of the plan, which broke ground in May last year. It will host 200,000 square feet of museum, performing arts and community educational spaces. Other projects for the space include a children’s museum, a new building for Orange County Music and Dance and an Orange County Asian American history museum.
UCI has played an important role in the reopening of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum by replicating a World War I-era biplane. Assisted by staff from the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation, the FLAM@UCI project team is currently utilizing both original and replica parts to reproduce a 1918 Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny” aircraft, which will be displayed at the museum when it opens in 2027.
More information about the museum’s collection, plans and restoration work can be found on the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum’s website.
Hugo Lai is a News Intern for the fall 2025 quarter. He can be reached at hlai7@uci.edu.
