A new museum in Amarillo is giving visitors a look at the Texas Panhandle’s long history of aviation, from the early days of flight to local pilots who eventually made their way into space.

The Tradewind Airport Museum has officially opened to the public, bringing together decades of photographs, aircraft models and stories connected to Tradewind Airport and the region’s aviation history.

Located across from Shelby’s Diner, the museum also highlights the Panhandle’s connections to NASA and the five astronauts who came from communities across the region, including Wheeler, Hereford, Lubbock and Amarillo.

Museum Director David Strait said the collection offers visitors something different from a traditional aviation museum.

“The museum is so different than most museums. You see the history of Amarillo in aviation. It’s not a mom-and-pop airport anymore. It’s a business airport, and some of the most interesting people in the world come here,” Strait said.

The museum is packed wall-to-wall with aviation history, including handmade models of different aircraft and exhibits tracing the evolution of Tradewind Airport itself.

One part of that story focuses on the airport’s ownership. Tradewind has been operating for roughly 80 years but has had only three owners during that time, an unusually stable history that museum organizers hope visitors will find interesting.

The museum also makes a point of telling stories that can sometimes be overlooked in aviation history, including the contributions of women.

Strait said the museum’s displays on women in aviation stretch back more than a century.

“So we started putting pictures of women in aviation, and the first one starts in 1914. A French woman pilot who got her pilot’s license armed up to today’s astronauts,” Strait said.

Amarillo's Connection to NASA

Among the museum’s most notable exhibits is the story of Amarillo astronauts Rick Husband and Paul Lockhart, both of whom have ties to Tradewind Airport.

Husband, commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia's final mission, and Lockhart, who flew on two Space Shuttle missions, both learned to fly at Tradewind Airport, according to Museum Manager Judy Strait.

“The two astronauts from Amarillo are Rick Husband and Paul Lockhart. One went to Amarillo High, one went to Tascosa. They both learned how to fly airplanes at Tradewind Airport,” Judy Strait said.

That connection gives the airport a unique place in Amarillo history. Long before Husband and Lockhart became astronauts, Tradewind helped provide a foundation for their careers in aviation.

The museum expands beyond those two men to highlight five astronauts with roots across the Panhandle and surrounding region, connecting the area's aviation tradition with the country's space program.

For the Straits, preserving those stories isn't simply about displaying old photographs or aircraft models. They want the museum to serve as an educational resource where people can discover a piece of local history they might not have known existed.

“It’s knowledge. And we’ve got quite a bit of information on Tradewind Airport, too, that’s interesting. It’s been here for 80 years and it’s only had three owners. So it’s been pretty successful,” Judy Strait said.

The museum's opening also gives Tradewind Airport a place to preserve its own transformation over the decades. What began in an earlier era of private aviation has developed into a business airport that continues to bring pilots, passengers and visitors through Amarillo.

By combining that history with exhibits on women aviators, local astronauts and the broader development of flight in the Panhandle, organizers hope visitors come away with a better understanding of the region's role in aviation.

The Tradewind Airport Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Admission is free, although donations are accepted.