The Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum in Gulfport opened in 2020 after decades of work to create a home for the state’s aviation history, an effort strongly inspired by Gulfport native John C. Robinson, an early African-American aviator. The project grew from Thomas E. Simmons’s research on Robinson, later organized through the John C. Robinson Brown Condor Association, which secured state support and collected oral histories. After earlier building plans near the airport fell through, the museum was established in a renovated former furniture store. Its exhibits bring together the Mississippi Aviation Hall of Fame, the Tuskegee Airmen, Hurricane Hunters, crop dusting, military bases, and the Vietnam War.