Naval Air Road, Port Hueneme, CA
This free air and space museum is easy to find, easy to get to, easy to get in and out of, and, well, genuinely easy.
The museum is quite small, containing just three aircraft and a fascinating assortment of air-to-air, air-to-surface, and surface-to-air missiles.
The three aircraft are quite impressive, not only for what they are, but also for how they are displayed.
McDonnel Douglas F4J Phantom
The F4J Phantom was the first airplane to show up at the museum and has been on display there for well over a dozen years. She’s mounted atop a ten-foot-tall pylon, looking like she’s heading out to sea on a mission over Vietnam.
Tail number 157259 was built in St. Louis in November of 1969 and joined the Navy on December 12. She appears to have served her naval days at Pensacola Naval Base until 1986, when she was transferred to Point Mugu Naval Base. She was transferred to her current location in 1992.
Despite her blacked-out canopy and empty engine bays, she makes a striking and deep impression. The sheer size of the airframe, when balanced above you, is truly stunning.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
Build number 158623 joined the PMMP fleet in 2021, having served the majority of her career right here in Southern California. Built at the Grumman factory in Bethpage, NY, in 1971, she officially joined the Navy in 1973.
Here work here in California included a stint at Miramar in the combat traininng squadron. She was subsequently transferred to Point Mugu where she was reconfigured to provide evaluation data on the F-14 airframe itself.
Like the Phantom, her intakes betray empty engine bays, and her canopy is blacked out. But nothing detracts from her impression as a huge and powerful combat weapon.
Grumman EA-6B Prowler
Unlike the other birds, this four-seat ELINT aircraft sits firmly on her own landing gear. Her canopies are still clear, allowing you to see the cockpit coaming and ejection seats inside. Like the other aircraft, here engine bay is empty. But there is no block in either the tail cone or the intakes, so you can look right down the length of the inside of the aircraft.
This particular airframe, 163890, served in Qatar in 2018, and was the very last of the EA-6Bs to be flown. The sides of the fuselage are littered with the names and callsigns of dozens of the brave crew that flew in her throughout her career.
How to Get to the Museum
The Point Mugu Missile Park is unfenced and open air, meaning that it never closes.
Take Highway 1 either South from Oxnard or North from Malibu. You’ll be able to see the park from the freeway.
Take the Wood Road offramp. The park is west of the freeway – you literally can’t miss it. The museum is actually on Naval Air Road, near the entrance to Naval Base Ventura County.
Bring your camera and prepare to be blown away by these three impressive aircraft, and the dozens of missile displays at this free air and space museum.
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