Growing up next to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in the 1970s, Brad Hayes heard Phantoms, Skyhawks, Sea Stallions and Sea Knights flying overhead throughout the day and night, but he didn’t mind. He has been an avid student of aviation history for 35 years.

"The TV series ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ got me hooked at age 7," recalled Hayes, executive director of Naval Air Museum Barbers Point. "It aired from 1976 to 1978, and it was about Marine Fighter Squadron 214, a World War II unit of fighter pilots that was first commissioned at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa Field in early 1942. They became legends, and they got their start right here on Oahu!"

Hayes served eight years in the Marine Corps and is a part-time mechanic for Pacific Helicopters. He dedicates 40 hours per week to his volunteer position, but he considers it time well spent because it gives him the chance to share his knowledge and honor the people who served at Naval Air Station Barbers Point and the adjacent Marine Corps Air Station Ewa Field, which operated from 1941 to 1949.

Established in April 1942, NAS Barbers Point held the distinction of being the largest naval air station in the Pacific until it was closed and renamed Kalaeloa Airport on July 1, 1999. The museum opened that day — seven months after it was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by Hayes and his friend Tim Cislo, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector and museum board member.

The museum’s 10 aircraft date between 1944 and 1984, and were once stationed at NAS Barbers Point. While they were on "active duty," they served in World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Some are outfitted with machine guns and bombs from the period they represent (all inoperative, of course).

The museum’s 1944 Beechcraft SNB-5 Expeditor has not been restored, and, because of its fragile condition, it is not displayed. The other nine aircraft (five planes and four helicopters) are parked on the flight line at Kalaeloa Airport, 133 yards from an active runway.

Visitors can don flight gear and climb in, on and around all of the exhibits except the UP-3A Orion, which is being prepped for a major restoration next year. Also on view are jeeps, cargo trucks, a firetruck, an ambulance and other military vehicles.

Daily except Monday, 90-minute tours whisk visitors to the front lines of some of America’s most significant conflicts. Education is the cornerstone of the museum’s mission, and Hayes knows all the stories.

For example, he’ll tell you A-4 Skyhawks played the "aggressors" in air-to-air exercises for resident and visiting crews from Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station who trained in F-8 Crusaders in the 1960s, F-4 Phantoms from the late 1960s to the 1970s and F/A-18 Hornets from the late 1980s to 1991.

"The VC-1 Squadron from NAS Barbers Point flew the Skyhawks for those mock combat encounters," Hayes said. "Two of our three Skyhawks sport the warrior head used in Primo Brewing Co.’s logo. In 1965 VC-1 received permission from Primo to emblazon that icon on its planes. The eight yellow stars surrounding the warrior head represent the major Hawaiian Islands."

In the 1986 movie "Top Gun" starring Tom Cruise, one of the museum’s Skyhawks is in the background when the combat pilots-in-training are introduced to the female lead, Charlie, played by Kelly McGillis. It’s described as the plane flown by Viper, Tom Skerritt’s character.

Twin-engine, all-weather UH-3H Sea King helicopters entered service in 1959 to detect, track and destroy enemy submarines. They were also used to retrieve astronauts from the ocean for NASA’s Apollo missions (which ran from 1961 to 1972), and beginning with President John F. Kennedy’s term in 1961, they have been used to transport U.S. presidents. These "helos" are also used today for hauling cargo and carrying out search-and-rescue operations.

"Sea Kings are sturdy, dependable and fast," Hayes said. "They have a boat hull, which enables them to land in water in an emergency. Keep them well maintained and they’ll fly forever."

Measuring 116 feet long and 33 feet high, the UP-3A Orion, built in 1965, is the museum’s showpiece. Such "Alphies" flew from NAS Barbers Point from 1963 to 1999.

"Our Alphie served in Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Bermuda, the Middle East and Hawaii, where she was based from 1984 until she retired in 1999," Hayes said. "She was part of an anti-submarine surveillance unit at Barbers Point during the Cold War."

Next year the museum will begin a complete overhaul of its Alphie. "In order for us to accomplish our goal, we’re in desperate need of donations: money, materials and manpower," Hayes said.

"We invite everyone to assist with the effort to bring our Alphie back to her former glory. It’s an opportunity to preserve and honor an important part of Hawaii’s and America’s history, because whether or not we don a uniform, wield a weapon or fight a battle, we are all affected — and sometimes forever changed — by war."

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.