A storied AV-8B Harrier — a fighter plane that can lift off vertically — is the most recent historical aircraft delivered to an old Marine Corps Airstation El Toro hangar at the Irvine Great Park that is now being used to ready them for display in a new Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum.
The aircraft, which has the most combat hours for a Harrier while on active duty, arrived on Friday, March 14, after being trucked from the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where it most recently served with the Bulldogs of the Marine Attack Squadron 223. That squadron will be the last to use the aircraft through the end of 2026 as the Marines continue with its phase out.
An AV-8B Harrier is moved into a hangar near the future location of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in Irvine, CA on Friday, March 14, 2025. The aircraft arrived in several parts and will be restored. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
An AV-8B Harrier is moved into a hangar near the future location of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in Irvine, CA on Friday, March 14, 2025. The aircraft arrived in several parts and will be restored. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Show Caption1 of 2An AV-8B Harrier is moved into a hangar near the future location of the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum in Irvine, CA on Friday, March 14, 2025. The aircraft arrived in several parts and will be restored. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
ExpandThe fighter is considered an aviation and engineering marvel with its vertical and short takeoff and landing capabilities, said retired Marine Brig. Gen. Mike Aguilar, the museum’s CEO and president, who was there to welcome it’s arrival in Irvine. The aircraft’s wings — removed for transport — were brought out first, then crews carried out the fuselage and lastly it’s back tail and fin.
“It’s a great addition to our collection, where we can explain the Marine Corps’ unique capability to deploy off amphibious ships by doing a vertical lift,” said Aguilar, who retired in 2002 after flying Cobra helicopters.
Typically, the Harrier, which the Marines are phasing out along with the F-18s, was used for close air support of ground troops and armed reconnaissance. The aircraft are being replaced with the new-age F-35 II fighters.
While the Harriers were not flown at Camp Pendleton or the Marine’s Miramar Air Station in San Diego, they were employed at Marine Corps Airstation Yuma in Arizona, Aguilar said.
The aircraft’s arrival comes just about a year after the first military planes destined for the future museum “landed” at Hangar 297, which, during its heyday, was the home of an aerial tanker transport squadron.
Once complete, the Great Park museum will showcase more than 40 aircraft, some owned by the museum and others from the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virgina.
The aircraft there now are all Marine fixed-wing or rotary. Five have been fully renovated, and others are being worked on and stored in preparation for the museum’s opening in late 2026 or early 2027. Aguilar said construction on the museum building could start as early as May 1.
The museum, planned as a 100,000-square-foot facility that will be built close to the old hangar, is a private-public partnership between the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation, the city of Irvine and the Marine Corps.
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First military aircraft make journey to new home in OC at Great Park Marines, Leatherneck Foundation and Irvine working to move vintage aircraft to the Great Park Marine aviation marks history as last FA-18 Hornets land from deployment with USS Nimitz Navy strike group with last Marine F-18 squadron heads out on global security mission 10 new-age Marine Corps fighters join UK Carrier Strike Group aboard the HMS Queen ElizabethThe aviation museum is joining the Great Park’s “Cultural Terrace,” where other destinations such as a new Pretend City Children’s Museum and Orange County Music & Dance are planned. The city is also working on grading for the future Heart of the Park features.
Aguilar said the Harrier played a significant role in Marine Aviation history and was a monumental leap forward due to its unique abilities.
This particular aircraft has seen 1,549 combat hours, which is the most of any Harrier still in the inventory. The plane served in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other operations in the Indian Ocean.
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