FORD ISLAND — The former seaplane hangar that is now the Pacific Aviation Museum hasn't even been open for a year, but museum officials already are looking to expand.

Visitor feedback at the museum has been "overwhelmingly positive," said Richard Beckerman, the interim executive director.

The museum opened Dec. 7 — on the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — and has attracted 70,000 visitors in its first 10 months.

The goal is to eventually draw 120,000 visitors a year. To increase the appeal of the museum, officials are looking to expand into two adjacent Ford Island hangars and a control tower — buildings that survived the attack that launched America into World War II.

To expand the museum, officials first have to create an organization designed to raise about $74 million more — mostly from donors on the Mainland.

"Construction is at least two years away, but first we need to identify a national campaign director and do detailed architectural plans and all kinds of things," Beckerman said. "We're scaling up for the big push."

Newlyweds Jeremiah and Molly Lamson of New Hampshire liked what they saw last week after spending about an hour inside the museum on Ford Island, in the middle of Pearl Harbor.

But the Lamsons only came to the museum because it was part of a package that included the USS Missouri, berthed on Ford Island, and the USS Arizona Memorial.

"We probably would not have paid the retail price ($14 for an adult, $7 for a child) just for the museum," Jeremiah Lamson said. "But it was definitely pretty good for something that's still being worked on."

The museum continues to add a few final touches to Hangar 37, which currently serves as its primary focus.

There are seven airplanes on display, including two replicas. The museum also recently added an authentic Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engine and an Allison (General Motors) V-1710 inline engine to Hangar 37, along with a fiberglass replica of a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive-bomber that helped win the Battle of Midway.

But the surprise hit of the Pacific Aviation Museum doesn't have anything to do with air superiority or aircraft technology.

A new 52- by 25-foot photo mural on the floor below the Dauntless simply depicts the islands that lie between the U.S. Mainland and Asia.

The mural helps visitors such as Barbara McLean of Portland, Ore., understand the scope of the war in the Pacific and the distances that both Japanese and American forces had to travel to fight on — and between — the various islands.

"I was not interested in coming here," McLean said, nudging boyfriend Don Duncan. "I'm not interested in airplanes. He is. But I loved the map of the world."

Duncan added, "We stared at that map for quite a while."

The Lamsons also fixated on all the islands where American and Japanese forces fought and died.

"We thought that map was way cool," Molly Lamson said. "We definitely liked that map."

Museum officials are taking all the feedback as they plan the museum's next phase: rejuvenating Hangar 79 next door for exhibits dedicated to World War II.

Hangar 79 has severe leakage problems and its windows are still pockmarked 65 years later from dozens of bullets fired by strafing Japanese fighter pilots, who nearly succeeded in sinking the entire fleet of U.S. ships moored along Ford Island.

While the leaks will have to be fixed, the bullet holes will remain and are certain to be a popular feature, Beckerman said.

Hangar 79 is currently filled with donated helicopters, a Jeep, planes and even mock fighter planes used as props and close-ups for actor Ben Affleck in the 2000 movie "Pearl Harbor."

A recently donated WW II-era Harley-Davidson military police motorcycle probably will join the other exhibits in Hangar 79, but for now it resides in Beckerman's air-conditioned office, dripping oil into a pan underneath.

The rest of the military hardware will be divided between Hangar 79's World War II emphasis and nearby Hangar 54, which will be dedicated to Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and modern military conflicts.

Even though Hangar 79 shows its age and its battle scars and the helicopters and planes are in various stages of rehabilitation, the whole jumble can be toured by visitors escorted by volunteer docents — and by Hawai'i school children, who can walk through real war aircraft such as a Vietnam-era "Huey" helicopter.

"It's pretty popular with the kids," said Syd Jones, the museum's restoration director.

Hangar 79, Hangar 54 and the control tower could open as museums in three to five years, but that depends on fund-raising, permits and construction timetables.

Although the museum has much larger plans, Duncan was pleased with what he saw last week.

His father was an Army Air Corps tailgunner in North Africa in World War II and Duncan loves looking at vintage warplanes.

As he stood beneath a P-40 fighter, Duncan gave the Pacific Aviation Museum his highest compliment.

He has frequently toured the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and said, "on a smaller scale, this is definitely its equivalent."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.