Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum

Location & history

The history of the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum began in the mid-1970s with the help of the Pueblo City Manager Fred Weisbrod. Today it is managed by the Pueblo Historical Aircraft Society and displays about 30 aircraft both outdoors and indoors, in two large hangars. The museum is located next to the Pueblo Memorial Airport which was established as Pueblo Army Air Base in 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The base was used for training crews on the B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-24 Liberators and later, the B-29 Superfortresses.

International B-24 Memorial Museum

There is also a smaller museum located within the first hangar of the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum. It is the International B-24 Memorial Museum dedicated to the famous World War II Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber and the people who built, flew, and maintained it. There is no actual B-24 on display, however that may change in the future as there are rumors that up to 12 B-24 and B-17 bombers were buried near the Pueblo Army Air Base at the end of the war by the military.

Boeing B-29A Superfortress “Peachy”

Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Peachy”

The largest aircraft in the first hangar is the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Peachy named in honor of all the crews who fought in the Pacific Theater. The original Peachy was piloted by a native of Pueblo, Lt. Robert T. Haver, and flew 35 combat missions from the Tinian airfield in the Mariana Islands. On August 6th, 1945 another B-29 named Enola Gay took off from the same airfield with the mission to drop the first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. The museum’s B-29 was recovered in 1976 from the boneyard at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake near Ridgecrest, California.

Grumman F-9J Cougar

First hangar collection

Other aircraft in the first hangar include a Douglas A-26C Invader, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, Grumman F-9J Cougar, North American T-28C Trojan, Lockheed T-33B T-Bird (Shooting Star) and Douglas R4D-5S (C-47 Skytrain). The museum also displays the Alexander Eaglerock Model 24, a fixed-gear two-seater biplane built in 1926 by the Alexander Aircraft Company.  For a brief period from 1928 to 1929, this Colorado-based company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world.

Douglas A-26C Invader

North American RA-5C Vigilante

Upon entering the second hangar you will be greeted by a pointy nose of a North American RA-5C Vigilante, a strike reconnaissance version of the carrier-based supersonic nuclear bomber. It is accompanied by a Sikorsky SH-34J Seabat helicopter which was used to recover Alan Shepard and his Freedom 7 capsule after splashdown at the end of the first US human spaceflight on May 5th, 1961.

North American RA-5C Vigilante

Second hangar collection

Other aircraft in the second hangar include a Piasecki CH-21B Workhorse, Cessna T-37B Tweet, North American F-86D Sabre Dog, Beechcraft T-34B Mentor, Lockheed YF-104A Starfighter, Vought F8U-1 Crusader, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Douglas F-6A Skyray, Piper J-3 Cub, Grumman F11F-1 Tiger and Bell UH-1H Iroquois. There is also a former Coast Guard Convair HC-131A Samaritan that you can tour inside.

North American F-86D Sabre Dog

More aircraft outside

Some of the aircraft displayed outside include a Boeing B-47E Stratojet, Fairchild R4Q-2 (C-119) Flying Boxcar, Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune (SP-2E), North American F-100D Super Sabre, Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star and a Republic P-84C Thunderjet.

Boeing B-47E Stratojet

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