A visit to Warhawk Air Museum
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Tucked between the runways of Nampa’s municipal airport is one of the most fascinating places in the Treasure Valley – Warhawk Air Museum. If you’ve never been, picture this: enormous WWII fighter planes just a few feet away from you, restored to flying condition. Walls lined with letters from the front lines. A whole hangar filled with flight suits, war memorabilia, engines, medals, maps, and stories… so many stories. You’ll see a toddler wide-eyed at the sight of a P-40 with shark teeth painted on its nose, and a 90-year-old veteran quietly tearing up in front of a glass case holding a uniform just like the one he wore. It’s a history museum, yes. But it’s more than that – it’s a place built to remember. Let’s take a closer look at the Warhawk Air Museum and the upcoming Warbird Roundup, an airshow that’s about to bring the past roaring to life over Nampa. A hangar full of memoriesThe Warhawk Air Museum was born out of a shared passion project between John and Sue Paul, a couple who started restoring old WWII airplanes in their driveway back in the ’80s. When they moved to Idaho in 1986, they brought two vintage planes with them, just for fun. When John began restoring a third plane in a hangar at the Caldwell Airport, people started stopping by to watch and see the revival of history. Soon, visitors started offering up their old uniforms, family photos, wartime journals, and medals with notes that said things like, “Maybe you can do something with this.” They could. And they did. The Pauls opened the Warhawk Air Museum with a mission to educate, honor, and preserve — and they’ve done all three with dedication and heart. The museum outgrew its original space and moved to its current 40,000-square-foot home in Nampa in 2001. The museum expanded another 37,000-square-feet this year – the newest building opens on September 13 and is dedicated to preserving and honoring the history of the Global War on Terror and 9/11. Warhawk Air Museum houses one of the most impressive collections of military aviation history in the country, with aircraft and artifacts spanning from WWI to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What makes the museum extra special is that everything is personal. This isn’t a just history on a wall – it’s someone’s dad, someone’s sister, someone’s best friend. The photos are creased. The medals are real. The stories belong to people who lived through it. What you’ll find insideYou’ll start with the planes. They’re called Warbirds, and Warhawk’s got a rare fleet of them. There’s a P-51C Mustang named Boise Bee, painted in the same design flown by local hero Lt. Col. Duane Beeson. There’s a Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk called Sneak Attack (my personal fave) and a P-40N called Parrot Head. There’s a sleek F-86F Sabre jet called Bernie’s Bo, a Cold War MiG-21, a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter, and even a replica of a WWI Fokker triplane like the one the Red Baron flew. You can see the whole collection here. Some of these still fly. Others have been lovingly restored just to be seen, touched, and remembered. Beyond the planes, you’ll find uniforms from every era, flight gear, dog tags, bomb fragments, engine parts, battlefield journals, and handwritten letters. The exhibits walk you through the major military conflicts of the past century: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War, and today’s global war on terror. And they do it through the voices of the people who were there. There’s a whole section dedicated to women in war. There’s a hallway of honor filled with local veterans’ personal collections. And if you have time, watch one of the oral history videos from the Veterans History Project. It’s all interviews recorded right there at the museum, preserving the memories of over 1,500 veterans. Warbird Roundup 2025Once a year, the history inside the museum bursts into the sky above. The Warbird Roundup is the museum’s biggest event of the year and it’s happening next Saturday & Sunday, August 23-24, 2025. This is a full-on airshow. A bunch of rare WWII aircraft fly in from all over the country, gather on the tarmac, and then one by one take off and show what they can do. There’s an announcer on the mic explaining the history of each plane as it flies. You can walk right up to the aircraft on the ground, meet the pilots, ask questions, and take all the photos. This year, for the first time ever, the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II will make an appearance. That’s a stealth jet – a real-deal, 5th-generation, futuristic fighter plane – flying in formation with WWII-era warbirds. It’s called a Heritage Flight, and it’s going to be as amazing as it sounds. There are guest speakers each day, including two helicopter pilots who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's also food trucks, kids activities, merch, and of course, the entire museum is open to explore as part of your ticket. Tickets are on sale now for $35 per day or $55 for the whole weekend, military and senior tickets are $28, and kids 14 and under are free with an adult. Get there early, bring a chair, and expect a big crowd. It’s Idaho’s largest gathering of historic warbirds, and it only happens once a year. Why it mattersWarhawk Air Museum isn’t just about planes. It’s about people. It’s about what they went through and what they carried home. It’s a tribute to veterans and a time capsule for the rest of us. If you’ve never been, go. Take your kids. Take your grandpa. Walk through the hangar. Watch the flyovers. Read the letters. You’ll leave with a whole new understanding of what people have lived through, and a whole new appreciation for a little museum doing big things in Nampa. Warhawk Air Museum is open Tuesday–Saturday from 9am–5pm and Sunday from 11am–4pm. Regular admission is $15, $12 for seniors and veterans/military, or $5 for kids age 5-12. The address is 201 Municipal Dr, Nampa, 83687. Thanks for reading! With love from Boise, Marissa
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