After spending the first 44 years of its existence as a shore command under the auspices of the Chief of Naval Air Training, the National Naval Aviation Museum opened a new chapter in its history in October 2006 with a realignment that placed it under the administrative control of the Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C, which serves as the official history program of the United States Navy. The National Naval Aviation Museum is part of the Navy’s museum system, the largest of twelve official Navy museums located throughout the United States. Information about the Navy museum system can be found at http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org8-9.htm.
Founded in 1966, the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc. is the nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and fundraising organization that supports the development of the National Naval Aviation Museum. With more than 9,000 dues-paying members, the organization is financially self-supporting through various revenue-generating operations - such as the IMAX® Naval Aviation Memorial Theatre and the Flight Deck Store - so that 100 percent of all donations are used for the development of the Museum and its associated educational programs.