The quiet giants sitting inside the War Eagles Air Museum have a lot of stories to tell. Gathered inside a 64,000 square foot hangar located in the southernmost point of Doña Ana County at the Santa Teresa Airport, the museum is home to a celebrated few of the “war birds.” A good many are combat planes that have seen the worst of times, and are now enjoying a peaceful retirement under the watchful eye of Museum Director Skip Trammell. “When you get in here alone,” he says, strolling casually among the towering birds, “You wish they could talk to you.”

Undoubtedly, these heroes of history would have a lot to say. Most would have long tales of painstaking restoration, having been lovingly brought back to their original glory by a team of volunteers who spent nearly the last two decades filling the hangar with born-again birds. And that wasn’t even the hardest part.

Founded in 1989, the museum’s first plane was an F4U-4 Corsair, bought by John and Betty MacGuire who shared a dream to someday create a facility that would showcase the famous fighters of the World War II era, as well as jet fighters used in the Korean conflict and beyond. Today, the air museum is home to several rare war eagles: the P-51 Mustang, the P-38 Lightning, a P-40 Warhawk and several others (about 33 to be exact). All were brought home to the museum by word of mouth.

“There’s a network of aviation enthusiasts throughout the world,” Trammell says of the days – and years – spent locating and acquiring the planes that would eventually make up the inventory of the War Eagles Air Museum. “A pilot spotted what some people might call a heap of junk at the end of a runway in Indonesia,” he recalls. “It turned out to be enough pieces to build five P-51 Mustangs. He got in touch with us, and we were able to buy them. The Internet sure would have made things much easier back then, but all of this was acquired before it was readily available to us.”

Aside from the museum’s namesake, guests can also cruise back in time with a tour of the 40 plus antique cars that, according to Trammell, became part of the exhibit by accident. “The MacGuires had a couple of old cars that we put in here, and from there we started getting donations of old cars, some from all over the United States.”

Trammell can tell you a story behind each and every car, which line the entire back wall of the hangar and loop around to form a second row. “There was a guy who flew in here to the museum,” Trammell reminisces about one acquisition, “and he was so impressed with what we had in here that he said he wanted to donate a vintage car.” Not having seen the car, Trammell had no idea what was going to arrive. “About six weeks later, this transportation hauler pulls up and out rolls a 1937 Chevrolet that was restored to mint condition.”

Passing a 1958 Cadillac, another story follows. “This car was my mother’s,” Trammell points, noting it was also the car he took to his junior/senior prom in 1959. Beyond that, a 1908 Overland sits on display, given to the museum by the University of Texas at El Paso. There’s also a 1927 Model T Ford, a 1930 Model A Roadster and the eye-catching 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster. “Sometimes we get some very valuable cars, and sometimes people will call to unload their junk,” Trammell says. “It’s kinda like a snowstorm, you never know when it’s coming, or how much you’re gonna get.”

Having maxed out the space in Santa Teresa, Trammell says there are only a few aircraft left he would consider adding to the museum’s lineup. “I would like to add a light observation helicopter, like the kind that were used during Vietnam. I could hang that one from the ceiling.”

Still, the crown jewels throughout the museum are the ones who knew a time in our country’s history where the theater was war, and the pilots and planes were the stars. “That Mustang right there is a TF51,” Trammell nods. “There were only 24 of those ever built, and that’s the only one left of its kind in the world.” The rarity continues with the museum’s P38. Once one of 10,000 P38s ever produced, it is now one of only six left in flying condition. “It’s extremely expensive, time consuming and labor intensive,” Trammell says of maintaining the fleet. “If you don’t have a part, you have to make it. The easy parts have been gone for years, and there will be no more original fighters and bombers ever built. These birds right here are the reason we’re speaking English right now. People have criticized us for glorifying war. We’re not; we’re glorifying freedom.”

Part of that glory, for Trammell, comes from knowing he’s helping to pass on a little bit of history. “We’ve been here 18 years. Since then, we’ve been in the media at least once a month, we have billboards along the highway, a weather site on KVIA and we still have people that come out here and say, ‘Wow! I never knew this was here.’” Most important, however, is the ability for Trammell to open the museum to a much younger clientele. So far this year, the museum has allowed more than 4,000 kids through the museum, free of charge.

Lucky visitors to the museum can sometimes catch World War II Veteran and El Pasoan Guy Dority, who, at 89, was part of the first bomber squadrons to fly over Europe during the war. Like the planes he once flew, Dority too is a rare bird. “Volunteers here at the museum are dwindling,” says Trammell. “Some have passed away, and some are no longer able to maintain the schedules they once did.”

It’s part of a harrowing truth that World War II is becoming ancient history, but inside this hangar, it’s history that can be told again and again, for generations to come.