Chennault Aviation and Military Museum

Mission:

To preserve and promote aviation and military history and the legacy of the men and women who contributed to it.

History
During WWII Monroe was the site of the Selman Field Army-Air Force Navigation School (opened in 1942) -- was the largest such facility in the US, offering the nation's only complete navigation course during WWII. The school graduated over 15,000 navigators, over 1,500 of whom lost their lives in combat.

In 1986, those who trained there and their descendants held the first Selman Field reunion, agreeing to work with the City of Monroe to establish a repository of artifacts and memorabilia of the field. The museum opened in 2000, at the corner of Kansas Lane and Central Ave., in the west wing of one of the last surviving buildings used by the Selman Field School. Since then, the museum's scope quickly grew to encompass more of the rich aviation and military history of NELA, and need for space has grown too.