The Pacific Aviation Museum is under attack. This is not a drill.

Since making the top-10 list of America’s aviation attractions on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel-planning website, the Pacific Aviation Museum has been drawing more tourists, and the numbers are expected to increase for this weekend’s Biggest Little Airshow.

TripAdvisor, which generates more than 50 million monthly views, ranked the Pacific Aviation Museum at No. 8 among its Aug. 4 list of must-see aviation attractions. The historic museum, which sits on the nation’s only aviation battlefield, was on the list with such greats as the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina.

Kenneth DeHoff, executive director of the Pacific Aviation Museum and a decorated combat Cobra pilot who flew in Vietnam, said the richness of its history sets the 4-year-old museum apart from other longer-running attractions.

"History really was born here. This is the Gettysburg of WWII," DeHoff said. "Where we are sitting was bombed on Dec. 7. Only one person on Ford Island died that day, but we are surrounded by heroes and the spirits of heroes."

TripAdvisor top picks were chosen from hundreds of attractions by traveler rankings and flight experts, said Justin Drake, a TripAdvisor spokesman.

"Competition was stiff," Drake said. "There are over 600 aerospace museums in the U.S. alone."

While the Pacific Aviation Museum, which opened four years ago, is still relatively new, it’s generating high marks, Drake said.

"There is so much history there," he said. "It appeals to aviation buffs and general-interest travelers. They gave it 4 bubbles out of 5 in their reviews."

The TripAdvisor honor comes one week after the center celebrated the arrival of its 500,000th visitor and just before the Ford Island air show, said Anne Murata, the museum’s marketing director.

"To us in marketing, this TripAdvisor rating is huge. It’s not only confirmation that our product is excellent, but that we’re positioning it correctly to our target market," Murata said.

The designation is good for Hawaii, too, said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert.

"Travelers nowadays are relying on that type of information as they choose where they go and what they do at the destination," Wienert said. "It can only be positive for the museum as well as for Hawaii overall."

Rachael Wilson and her friend Holly Hardy, who were visiting Hawaii from Scotland, said they decided to visit the museum after an airport display captured their attention.

"We studied this history in school, so it’s really interesting to see it in person," Wilson said. "I can see why it made the list."

The Levin family of Blue Bell, Pa., are aviation buffs, so they were planning their trip to Pearl Harbor and its surrounding museums before they even reached Hawaii.

"It’s fantastic," said Melea Levine. "The boys have been watching a lot of TV programs about Pearl Harbor. They saw it as an adventure."

The museum’s flight simulator was even better than a computer game, said 13-year-old Jacob Levine. "It felt like you were really flying."

If TripAdvisor and positive reviews don’t put the Pacific Aviation Museum on the map, Murata is convinced that the air show will.

"It’s a wonderful opportunity to let people know that we are here," she said. "For a young attraction with a very modest nonprofit marketing budget, we’re doing some amazing things to brand ourselves on a national and international level. We’re definitely pointed in the right direction."

The free air show, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday, will showcase 150 aircraft on the tarmac and offer candy bombings for kids, tours of a new "MiG Alley" Korean War exhibit and free concerts.

A special flight demonstration of a one-third-scale model Curtis P18, the first aircraft to fly in Hawaii, will be one of the highlights, as will tours of Hangar 79, which still bears the bullet holes of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. Inside, there will be helicopters, fighter planes and a 1941 machine shop busy restoring museum aircraft.

Attendance at the annual event is expected to double to about 7,000 kamaaina and visitors due to the museum’s growing popularity and national press, Murata said.

The museum, which has hosted 120,000 visitors so far this year, is on track to welcome 200,000 this year, DeHoff said.

And, as the museum gets closer to its $100 million capital target, there will be even more for visitors to see and do, said Richard "Scotty" Scott, museum operations director, who spent 20 years flying for the Navy before retiring in 1988 with the rank of commander.

The museum, which opened in 2006, is working on phase two of its refurbishment of the 85,000-square-foot Hangar 79, which was once used to assemble and overhaul aircraft, Scott said.

Planned expansion, which will take place in two more phases, will include refurbishing the 76,000-square-foot Hangar 54 and the control tower complex as well as adding more planes to the museum’s 26, he said.

"We have the charter to restore these buildings and tell the story of Dec. 7, 1941, and the part that aviation played for the entire Pacific Theater," Scott said.

The museum has raised $23 million of its $100 million target and can begin on Hangar 54, the seaplane hangar, once it reaches $33 million, DeHoff said.

"It’s already great. I’m curious to see what is coming next," said Kylee Biedrzycki, a honeymooner from Boise, Idaho, who was touring the museum with her husband, Arthur, on Tuesday.