It is located at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, immediately south of Seattle.

[7] The Museum of Flight can trace its roots back to the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation, which was founded in 1965 to recover and restore a 1929 Boeing 80A-1, which had been discovered in Anchorage, Alaska.

In 1968, the name "Museum of Flight" first appeared in use in a 10,000 sq ft (900 m2) facility, rented at the Seattle Center.

The 1909 all-wooden Red Barn, the original home of the company, was barged two miles (3 km) up the Duwamish River to its current location at the southwestern end of Boeing Field.

In 1987, Vice President George Bush, joined by four Mercury astronauts, cut the ribbon to open the facility on July 10,[12][13][14] with an expansive volume of 3,000,000 cubic feet (85,000 m3).

Completed in 1994, the 132-seat Wings Cafe and the 250-seat Skyline multipurpose banquet and meeting room increased the museum's footprint to 185,000 square feet (17,200 m2).

The tower overlooks the Boeing Field runways, home to one of the thirty busiest general aviation airports in the country.

[26] Because it is a trainer and not an actual Shuttle, small group (no more than six persons, minimum age 10, maximum height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)) guided tours of the interior are available, for an extra charge.

The museum maintains a restoration facility at Paine Field in Everett with about 39 ongoing projects including a de Havilland Comet 4 jet airliner, a Jetstar, and the Boeing 2707 mockup, among many.

The school operates in partnership with the museum (which owns the land), Boeing, and other members of the local aviation industry.

Opened to the public in June 2016, the Aviation Pavilion spans the gap between the high school and the Space Gallery.

The 140,000-square-foot (13,000 m2) roof doubles the museum's exhibit space, and was built with help from Sellen Construction and Seneca Real Estate Development.

In late May 2019, the museum opened the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Park featuring the fully restored B-52G Stratofortess Midnight Express (59-2584) as the culmination of Project Welcome Home.