The museum was founded in 2001 by Jerry and Peggy Thoutte with six flyable aircraft. The museum was initially located in a number of hangars at the airport, but moved into a new building in 2008.[1] The Thouttes retired from daily operations in 2016 and Michael Payne took over as director.[2] The museum acquired eight aircraft from the North Cascades Vintage Aircraft Museum when the latter closed in 2018.[3]
On April 28, 2019, a PT-17 Stearman biplane that belonged to the museum made an emergency landing on a beach in Discovery Bay, Washington after an in flight engine failure. The forced landing onto the narrow sloping beach resulted in significant damage to the airframe, but caused only minor injuries for the pilot and passenger.[4][5]
Construction on a 6,000 sq ft (560 m2) expansion of the museum was in progress in 2022.[3]