The museum opened to the public in 1977, initially housed in the old pilot's flight hut which was last occupied by the local Dumfries Gliding Club, giving the building a long history in aviation.

The opening ceremony was conducted by Michał Cwynar DFC, a Polish fighter ace, who became the museum's patron.

[3] In addition to the salvaged Hercules mount, the museum also has one of the Bristol Centaurus engines from the Blackburn B-20, V8914, an experimental flying-boat with retractable lower-hull, lost on 7 April 1940 after suffering severe aileron flutter – 3 crew killed, 2 rescued by HMS Transylvania.

[4] One of the Junkers Jumo 211s is displayed from a Heinkel He 111H-4 of 1 Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 4 (1/KG4), based at Soesterberg, the Netherlands, which became lost on 8 August 1940, during a mission to lay mines off Belfast, and collided with the summit of Cairnsmore of Fleet in the Galloway Hills of Scotland, whereupon the ordnance on board exploded, killing the four aircrew.

[5] By 1979, with the acquisition of a North American F-100 Super Sabre, a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, and a Dassault Mystère, the museum had outgrown the small space surrounding the flight hut, and the museum moved into the three-storey watch tower (control tower) where it resides today.