In 2025, the Grissom Air Museum undertook its largest expansion since 1991 with the Capt. Manuel Cervantes Jr. Building.  Now home to the iconic B-58 Hustler Bomber, the Cervantes Building will be the future home for the Hoosier Cold War Center.  This will be the only permanent exhibition focused on this era of American history in the state of Indiana and one of only a handful across the U.S.

Just eight of these planes remain and the one in our care – Tail #0663 – is the oldest of these survivors.  The impact this plane had on aircraft development cannot be underestimated, and its preservation is important to aviation history.

With thousands of fans around the world, the Hustler is one of our most popular attractions in the air park.  However, its decades-long exposure to the harsh Hoosier climate is beginning to take its toll and our work to maintain this historic artifact is being outpaced by time and weather.  The creation of the Cervantes Building will not only allow us to preserve this increasingly endangered artifact but allow us to put the B-58 into its scientific and historical context.

Generous donors helped us raise $455,000 to build the Cervantes Building, with phase one completed in March 2026 – only four months after the groundbreaking.  As of April 2026, we are half way through phase two, environmental and security.  The building in its current form will be ready for visitors sometime in June 2026.

Fundraising to complete phases two, three, and four have begun, with $50,000 of the estimated $350,000 needed already raised.  Long-time friends of the museum may recall that for a time we had considered using the space as a STEM-focused area. However, our new approach will allow us to unite history, science, and art so that the story of this era can be explored in full.

Laid out as a stylized timeline, the exhibit will have three color-coded tracks that visitors can follow separately or together, taking them on a journey from 1945 through today. The headlines and historical moments that shaped this time period can be discovered along the green path, that of the newspaper man. Science lovers, be sure to follow the path in Convair Orange to learn about the science that shaped and would be shaped by the B-58. History lovers take the yellow path to discover the men and women who served in the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and made peace their profession. And be sure to seek out our Blue exhibits to dive deeper into select topics!