Shea Naval Aviation Museum

After Naval Air Station South Weymouth closed in 1997, the Patriot Squadron of the Association of Naval Aviation created a committee to establish a military heritage museum at the Union Point real estate development on the site of the old base.^[1] That year the Navy dedicated the Shea Memorial Grove, named after Lieutenant Commander John J. Shea, consisting of a park with a Douglas A-4B Skyhawk mounted on a pedestal, and appointed the ANA Patriot Squadron to watch over it after the Navy abandoned the base.^[2] ANA Patriot Squadron members cosmetically restored the aircraft in 2011 and in 2025.^[3]

In October 2011, after previously requiring appointments scheduled in advance, the ANA Patriot Squadron opened the Shea Naval Aviation Museum to the general public once a month in the former base gymnasium, the Shea Fitness Center.^[4] The museum installed 100 memorial bricks in the grove in October 2013.^[5] In 2015, the museum was given a documentary about the history of the base by the organization redeveloping the former base at that time.^[6] However, in June 2017 the ANA Patriot Squadron was forced to close the museum and vacate the building so that it could be renovated.^[7]

In June 2025 the ANA Patriot Squadron reopened the Shea Naval Aviation Museum at a new location, in the former base hobby shop office building at 194 Memorial Grove Avenue. The museum is presently open from 9 AM to noon on the second Saturday of the month, from 9 AM to 11 AM on the last Saturday of the month, and on other occasions by appointment. Admission is free and all are welcome.^[8]

Exhibits at the museum include a sensor operator’s station from a P-3, an instrument panel from an A-4, Navy and Marine Corps uniforms, squadron insignia patches, historic photographs, model aircraft, plaques and signs, and many other artifacts associated with both bases.^[9]