Fun, small museum. It is just enough information to get out and stretch your legs. Love the children’s scavenger hunt and gift shop. It is actually located on a runway and surrounded by hangers. Planes were coming in and taking off while we were there.

A fascinating figure tied to North Idaho is the inventor and aviator Forrest Bird (1921-2015) who lived not far away in Sagle.A technical training officer in WWII, Bird embarked on a career inventing respirators and ventilators for the medical industry after finding a German oxygen regulator in the war and working out how to make it more functional.The Bird Aviation Museum and Invention Center is in a hangar at Coeur d’Alene Airport and has a rotating fleet of aircraft from before WWI to the present day.To name a few there’s a 1947 Republic RC-7 “Sea Bee”, a North American AT-6 similar to the one Forrest flew in his WWII days and a 1927 WACO model GXE-10, like the one in which he made his first solo flight at the age of just 14.These aircraft are accompanied by exhibits about Bird’s medical inventions, as well as famous innovations in general, like Ruth Handler’s Barbie and the Mac II, mostly by Steve Woznia

Affordable. Educational. Friendly & helpful staff (volunteers?). Great little gift shop. Hope to see an expansion with more of the collection. Plan on spending some time to read all the history included with the exhibits.

Amazing inventions and wonderful staff. This place is jam packed with inspiration and kids love it!

A hidden gem of the Idaho Panhandle! 🛩️You must visit The Bird Aviation & Respiratory Museum at The Pappy Boyington Air Field in Hayden, ID.Use GPS to access the museum as its tucked away on the airports property and is tricky to find.Not only does this have Dr. Forrest Birds world-renowned respirators, but his: planes; other inventors inventions; his wifes aviation history; Model A & T; vintage WWII memorabilia: A NASA section, an Amilia Earhart and many other EXTREMELY interesting exhibits.Very family friendly. 👍There is so much to take in--either spend several hours, revisit it again at another date or take pics of the placards and blow them up and read them on your phone. 🤔😉They take donations for visiting the museum and have complimentary, cookies and treats for everyone. 🍪😊

This Museum is absolutely amazing, even the kids had a blast. The tour guide (Buck Bender) is a pilot & flew in Vietnam. He is a wealth of information. The museum is named after the inventor of the respirator amongst other inventions. His daughter works there, and was born premature, she was on the respirator that her dad invented. There is a section from NASA donated by an astronaut that lives in Sandpoint, Idaho. And, there is also a section devoted to Women in aerospace, known as the WASPS. You need a few hours to take it all in, we will be going back!

We were greeted by a very friendly staff and tour guide. Great experience with my kids! The day involved a scavenger hunt; my kids 6, 9, and 12 year old enjoyed the search while learning about the history. Then they got surprises at the end for doing the challenges! Lovely little museum and a must see!

Excellent museum and experience for the entire family! A must see for inventing & flying enthusiast. Keeping science and inventing alive!

It was awesome, the people there really make the museum!! They are polite informative, knowledgeable and have a personal interest in the history they are trying to convey! My kids really had fun in the inventors/science part! So cool!

Dr. Bird was a curious inventor who saved and improved many lives. Museum is a tribute to those who served in WWII and inventors through time. Super interesting.

Outstanding place to visit. A wealth of information. Very well displayed. The staff is outstanding. The scenery outside is amazing. If youre a Respiratory Therapist or an aviation buff this is the place to go. This man was amazing and had an amazing life. You have to visit this place at least once in your life.

My husband and I were delighted to find this fascinating museum. It is a family owned museum with very knowledgeable volunteers. We got a personalized tour by Dr. Birds son in law. The exhibits are exceptional. Well worth the trip.

Fascinating pieces of history. Beautiful airplanes. All tucked in by the Hayden airport!

Always interesting new additions that cover a wide range of history and innovation. A great venue for corporate events and birthdays as well. Have visited with my kids who enjoyed the simulator kids area and just recently returned to the venue for a surprise birthday party.

Unfortunately, was closed due to u-no-what. But locals had much positive to say.

This museum may appear small but it has so much to offer! The staff is super friendly and very knowledgeable, we learned sp much about Dr.Bird, inventors, and aviation history! Although this is a free museum, if you can I highly recommend donating to the museum during your vist. Anything helps and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated. This museum is certainly a hidden jem! Also, almost all of the aircraft and vehicles are still driven and flown. We are already looking forward to another visit!

Beautiful collection of mostly WWII era aircraft. Right on the taxiway at Felts Field. A must visit for aircraft enthusiasts.

My kids said this museum was great! They were inspired by the contents and encouraged in the area of exploring and inventing 🤩. They want to go back.

Great museum extremely knowledgeable staff.. will definitely go back

Smaller museum with a big imprint! Had a surprising array of flight memerabelia. My husband, a veteran, and I could have spent hours but had the grandkids and they went through pretty quick, and they loved the planes! Cant believe how many were in there! Has a great little gift shop and the people were very nice. The lady in the gift shop was especially nice. She let the grandkids who are two and four color with her kids while we power shopped. Nicest kid friendly museum ever! Will go back again! Prices in gift shop were reasonable, and museum access was donation based. Hoping to go back again soon both with the grandkids who cant stop talking about it and with my husband and I who can enjoy the delightful little finds along the way!

Friendy staff and a few planes on display, with other related displaies, flying tigers, black sheep squadron, and a lot more.

The museum is a fantastic place to learn the history of Dr. Bird. The staff are friendly, Informative and professional. Our presentor Larry was fantastic to our group. I recommend this museum to anyone to visit.

Its hard to believe but Cpaps and ventilators were perfected in my lifetime by this man in lowly Idaho. Before this, people just died when they couldnt breath

Dr Bird was an interesting man. Aircraft collection as well as other inventions.

Really cool museum. Its small, but packed with artifacts and displays on both military and general aviation. Worth the trip. A person reading every display would probably spend 90 to 120 minutes in the museum.

Fantastic small museum with a great family atmosphere. We had a great time.

This is an extraordinary museum set in a beautiful location.

Tons of aviation history and information. Our family enjoyed it very much.

Very friendly staff and fun experience.

Awesome experience. Quite the hidden gem in the gem state.

This place was Fabulous. The volunteers could not have been more welcoming & knowledgeable! So many interesting exhibits not to mention the Beautif aircraft! A must see!

Great museum experience for all ages! We took our 4 year old and 10 year old granddaughter and we all enjoyed it!

Awesome museum, awesome people.

We were impressed from the moment we walked through the doors. If you love aviation, inventions, military memorabilia, this is a must-see museum. It is a jewel like you cannot believe, especially for a private collection. Chock full of history, this is one of the places we always take visitors. Great for all ages.

Very interesting, lots of history, great examples of his inventions and his planes

This is great place to learn. There are aircraft and other items of historical value. Even our kids found something to entertain them.

Put pricing on your web site.Interesting but way too small of a venue. Dr. Bird had over 20 vintage planes but you only get to see 3 or 4.

Very fun and informative. The inventions were an interesting find. The books in the gift store are worth a look at.

Love this place! My whole family young and old enjoy going here! I enjoy it so much I got married here, the staff is awesome! They are very helpful and nice people. My husband and I will be visiting again soon!

This is a great place to take the family! Come see some truly unique aircraft and learn about a great Man.

This museum has a great amount of information about Mr . Bird. Go see the planes, learn about Mr. Bird. He was quite a man and saved many lives.

Broad-ranging collections of air and space, military, and medical artifacts, as well as original patent documents and models dating back to the 1800s. Absolutely worth the trip.

Sweet small museum

An interesting little museum located at KCOE. Lots of interesting exhibits with accompanying history.

Knowledgeable staff and very informative. Also facility is immaculate

Very nice little avaition museum with collection of historic stuff. Totally awesome stagerwing Beach.y

My family and I spent half the day at the Bird Aviation Museum and thoroughly enjoyed our visit while just briefly overviewing all of the exhibits there. Theres so much to see! Theres vintage aircraft (all in working order) World War II memorabilia, and of course all manner of inventions, both Dr. Birds, and others. I dont know where else I might find an Apple II signed by Steve Wosniak, a Gibson guitar signed by Les Paul, or exhibits of patents from the 1800s to present. All were presented by knowledgeable docents. We were pleasantly surprised to see Doc (Dr. Forrest M. Bird) greeting visitors and got to speak with him! All of the exhibits were first class. Theres a gift shop with a wide variety of things for purchase, and the cafeteria smelled incredible! Im sorry that we missed partaking there! This is the kind of museum that weve been looking for, both for ourselves and to have on our list of must see places to take folks that visit so that we can proudly show off our new home. Well be back to spend more time to more fully review the exhibits!

This place is amazing. The people are very friendly.

The Bird Aviation Museum is a place to see in a persons lifetime the place is incredible Dr.Forrest and Pamela Bird pull out all the stops people are VERY informed and FRIENDLY and can answer any questions you or your children can ask . Thank You Dr.Bird for everything you did for everybody in this world.:-)

Interesting museum.

Awesome place! The people here are great, very friendly, and the cafe is yummy!

Its great, informational, and great staff!

Awesome place and everyone was super friendly

Go, you will enjoy it.

Great collection

It super for the kid and Even I enjoyed it!!!!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😂

Really enjoyable, we bring friends often

Awesome place!

Amazing place!

Very cool!

Pretty cool

Awesome! Wonderful!