Lyon Air Museum, next to John Wayne Airport, features aircraft and automobiles from the 1930s and 1940s.
Major General William Lyon never fails to enter an event in grand style. At the Grand Opening on Thursdady, December 10th, he may have made the biggest entrance of his long — and celebrated — life.
The former head of the Air Force Reserve, 85 year old man who’s met six presidents, built 100,000 homes and once cracked the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans, and one of the magnates of Orange County development, Lyon chose to arrive at the grand opening ceremony of his new Lyon Air Museum in the cockpit of a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress “Fuddy Duddy.”
The museum sits adjacent to John Wayne Airport and features 1930s and 1940s aircraft and automobiles, and is docented by military veterans, including many who served during World War II.
The shiny chrome and yellow Fuddy Duddy pulled up to an open hangar door directly in front of a blue ribbon, which Lyon cut with his wife, Willa Dean Lyon, after exiting the aircraft. Lyon was suited in his vintage uniform, as did many guests in attendance at the 30,000-square-foot facility.
Local news anchor Ed Arnold emceed the event, which also featured an honor guard from the Los Angeles Air Force Base.
“This is a really special day for myself, and of course my family,” Lyon said. “This is kind of the fulfillment of a dream that I had a long time ago.”
He said he was proud that the museum will offer its services to local school districts, to give children a first-hand view of the most important event of the 20th century.
It was a humbling feeling to actually get to meet the brave men who battle Pearl Harbor attack. One of its docents, 89-year-old Jack Hammett of Costa Mesa, was in Pearl Harbor on the day it was bombed; he also took part in D-Day and served in North America.
The Lyon Air Museum broke ground in 2007, after the retired Air Force general realized a way to fulfill his dual passions for aviation history and for educating today’s youth about the “Greatest Generation of Aviation.” (The museum also makes for a handy place to stash his significant collection of aircraft and vehicles.)
Lyon served in Europe, the Pacific and North Africa during World War II; he went on to fly combat missions in Korea before becoming Chief of the Air Force Reserve from 1975 to 1979.
Highlights at the new museum include an authentic Helms Bakery truck, which used to make the rounds throughout the Southland in the 1940s, and a 1939 Mercedes-Benz Model G4 Offener Touring Wagon that was personally used by Adolph Hitler during World War II, until it was seized by the French army.
Bedecking the walls alongside an on-site movie theater are two large-scale maps of the European and Pacific Theaters of Operations.
If you are ever in the area, I would recommend stopping in for a tour. The docent’s are cute older men with a wealth of knowledge that will have you at “ears” for hours. For more information on the Lyon Air Museum, call (714) 210-4585 or visit lyonairmuseum.org.