Queensland Air Museum - Aviation Museum Sunshine Coast — Attraction in Sunshine Coast Regional

An absolute must-do! Delightful staff and awesome exhibits.

I attended their Women in Aviation Open Day yesterday. The entire event was fantastic and incredibly positive. Balanced views were presented of different facets of aviation and female involvement was strongly encouraged. The panel was articulate, experienced, intelligent, balanced and a pleasure to listen to. A stellar line-up and an event that was incredibly appreciated. Thank you so much to the organisers!

PS A Defence Force Recruiting woman very rudely hijacked the audience AFTER the event had concluded. It was preposterous of her to insist that the audience wait after the event for her to lecture us on her achievements. It was actually beyond rude as we had not attended a recruiting talk and no other recruiters were given the opportunity to speak (& rightfully so). The defence recruiter proceeded to speak at us about meeting or exceeding questionable quotas in aviation and continued with what could only be described as targeted propaganda. The elderly lady seated next to me leaned toward me to say, “this seems a great deal like brainwashing rather than free thinking”. She was spot on.

Please, in future, stop such interruptions at the conclusion of an excellent event. The panel were infinitely more qualified and appeared far more balanced than the defence recruiter who came across as desperate. It was sad after an otherwise incredibly positive and...

A great collection and a great way to spend the day.

The F-111 is the centrepiece of the show, and it's amazing to see it up close, but the collection is much more extensive than this. Three times I remember walking through a door or turning a corner, only to see the place was twice as big as I thought and there was more to see. You could spend all day reading the placards about each aircraft, and if you're an aviation nerd you're in for a real treat. There's nothing like seeing these up close.

For me, the highlight was the Huey and Kiowa (I'm a helicopter fan, and it's neat to see the two airframes that made the Air Assault doctrine possible), as well as the Neptune and Orion - the size of these in person dwarfs what you might imagine them to be like. This is in addition to many civilian and lesser known aircraft, many I'd never heard of, even a SAM. (I described this to my girlfriend as "If you were an enemy flying above this, and this was fired at you, you are going to prefer that this had not been fired at you.)

The only downside was that there was a school group visiting when I went, and the staff seemed to be busy with them - from what I overheard, the staff sounded very knowledgeable and I would have loved to have learned more from an experienced guide. I hope if I go again I get to do so.

I'm only a little interested in aircraft, and I'd go again if I had the...

Queensland Air Museum is a treasure trove of dozens of military and commercial aircraft built since 1937, including a DC-3 that served as General Douglas MacArthur's personal transport, a fighter jet (F111) that can reach speeds of up to 2,550 kilometres per hour, high-speed fighter like those in the movie of Top Gun, and a 1950s surface-to-air missile. Stepping into the museum is like stepping back in time, not only seeing the evolution of the aircraft, but also having the opportunity to talk to the pilots who flew them, which brings the exhibits to life. I must praise the volunteer staffs at the Queensland Aviation Museum. They are a team of ex-military, civilian aviation pilots and aviation enthusiasts. Many of the volunteers are involved in the maintenance and logistical support of the aircraft and they work together to create a memorable experience for the public and visitors. They are very knowledgeable about aviation as they will tell you which aircraft has been in service for 45 years and which aircraft in the world has been built for 85 years and is still flying. The Queensland Aviation Museum is highly recommended for aviation enthusiasts, parents with young children and those looking for something other than water sports on the...