The museum was the idea of Harold Thomas, who had been an apprentice at
Australian National Airways, an airline operated by
Charles Kingsford Smith. Thomas collected aero engines and, in 1961, obtained his first complete aircraft. The
Department of Civil Aviation approved Thomas commencing a museum and, in 1963, he acquired his first hangar space at Camden Airport. The museum aims to recondition military aircraft to taxiable standard. Using service records and photographs for research, aircraft from the
Royal Australian Air Force,
Australian Army Aviation and the Royal Australian Navy's
Fleet Air Arm, are restored with faithful wartime markings, camouflage and cockpit instruments. Since 2008, the museum has not been open to the public and has operated as a private organisation, run by a group of volunteers who maintain and restore the Thomas Aviation Collection. The Museum's website states that "there are no plans to re-open to the general public at the current site". ==References==