The Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB, Georgia, was named the 2010 winner of the Air Force Heritage Award for its Ambassadors in Blue—US Air Force Thunderbirds exhibit on 8 June 2010. The 2,286-square-foot exhibit, sponsored by the Carl Vinson Memorial Chapter of the Air Force Association, opened in May 2009 and displays an F-16A Fighting Falcon that was a part of the flying team from 1982 to 1991. Museum officials obtained the aircraft in February 2008 from Sheppard AFB, Texas, where it had been used as a maintenance trainer after it was retired from the Thunderbirds team to bring on a newer model of the F-16. Museum technicians restored it to its red-white-and-blue Thunderbird markings.
