Work has begun on Ford Island to transform Hangar 37 back into the way it was in 1941.

About $9 million will be spent on the 42,442-square-foot hangar as history repeats itself.

The Pacific Aviation Museum-Pearl Harbor recently signed a lease and will hold a groundbreaking at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

"It's a historic moment, because it marks the return of aviation to Ford Island," said museum executive director Allan Palmer.

The $50 million museum, which eventually will include 16 acres and hangars 37, 79 and 54, as well as the landmark barber pole control tower complex, will showcase the patriotism, valor and sacrifice of military and civilian men and women in the Pacific.

World War II will be emphasized, with plans for a realistic display of the Dec. 7 attack, featuring replicas of burned-out planes. But the Korean War, Vietnam, Cold War and modern air power stories also will be told.

Among the aircraft expected to be displayed in Hangar 37, the museum's first phase, are a Japanese Zero fighter, a Navy Wildcat, an Army Air Corps B-25 Mitchell bomber, and a 1942 Stearman biplane that President George H.W. Bush trained in during World War II.

Seventeen aircraft are in the collection so far, including a civilian Aeronca that flew through a formation of Japanese aircraft on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The nonprofit museum is expected to open Dec. 7, on the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack that propelled the United States into World War II.

A long-term lease recently was signed with the Hunt Building Co. and the Navy for 7.25 acres and hangars 37 and 79.

"We're not ready for the last hangar, 54, and we're not ready for the tower," Palmer said. Those will come later.

Rent is being offset by improvements the museum puts into the project, such as plumbing, electrical work and air conditioning.

"The outside (of Hangar 37) has to be restored, and we've got to repaint it and put a new roof on, and make it look like it did in 1941," Palmer said.

The hangar was used for aircraft engine maintenance and housed a squadron of Grumman Ducks.

About half of Hangar 37 will house a museum store, food service, a theater and an education center. The remainder will be display space.

The museum has raised $13.1 million, which includes $8.1 million in federal grants and $1 million in state funds. The balance has come from private and corporate donations in Hawai'i.

"Since we've got to raise all this money to complete it, we're taking donations of money, and critically, Pearl Harbor artifacts," Palmer said, "because the first phase is primarily going to be Pearl Harbor and the early stages of World War II."

The groundbreaking is by invitation.