National Museum of Commercial Aviation

In 2003, a group of retired airline employees and civic leaders met to discuss creating a legacy to the commercial airlines that helped make Atlanta home to the busiest airport in the world. From this initial conversation, group was formed, resulting in what became known as the National Museum of Commercial Aviation (NMCA). The NMCA was intended to be a comprehensive airline industry museum, and was poised to become a center for airline history and research. It was designed to become a major tourism attraction and economic generator for the region, and to serve as a cultural and educational amenity. The museum intended to look at all aspects of the airline industry, not just one particular airline or airport, covering everything from the birth of the airline industry to modern labor relations; from air mail to air cargo; highlighting every job in the industry and its value. It also intended to preserve the artifacts and stories of the men and women who built the industry to what it is today. In 2007, the museum announced south metro Atlanta as its permanent home, followed by a major operating grant award from Clayton County, Georgia to assist with planning, research, and other operating needs. The first Interim Headquarters & Research Air-Chive was opened in Forest Park, Georgia in March 2008. The Interim H.Q. was designed to act as both temporary museum and sales center to give the public an idea of what to expect further down the road. More than 4,000 visitors came through the doors in the first 14 months open, and the demand for public programming, group tours, children's educational programming and additional exhibits necessitated a move into a much larger facility adjacent to the existing site. That location served as the center of operations for the museum. The Interim Museum was open to the public, and contained various airline exhibits, an art gallery, children's activity center, research library, flight simulators and a gift shop. Educational and public programming efforts included a children's book club, monthly lecture series, traveling exhibits, and a rotating art gallery. The first phase of the Permanent Campus, located at 727 Airline Museum Way, Atlanta, Georgia 30354, was a hangar which was intended to house twelve new exhibits, cockpits, ground support equipment, the museum's collection, staff, and volunteers. It was expected to open in 2013. ==Facilities==

Adjacent to the entrance corridor of the new international at the world's busiest airport, and in the shadow of the world's largest airline, the museum intended to break ground on the first phase of what was to become a campus of buildings, aircraft, support vehicles, interactive exhibits, educational classrooms and learning labs, and memorial gardens. Good visibility from more than 800 feet of frontage on Interstate 75, access to the airport, and many aviation employees in the immediate area were to add to the feasibility of a "national" museum. Main buildings were to include a themed airport terminal covering the major decades of aviation, complete with loading bridges and full-size commercial airliners outside. Adjacent hangars and a Career Exploration & Learning Center were to contain additional aircraft, classrooms and career exploration areas, theaters, archives, collections storage, a themed cafeteria, and a restoration/maintenance shop. ==Collection==

The museum had a growing collection of more than 100,000 artifacts. Major concentrations included 500 uniforms dating as far back as the 1930s, advertising memorabilia, rare cockpits and trainers, 2,500 pieces of in-flight serving ware, vintage toys and models, and original artwork. ==See also==