WHAT: Press preview of the National Air and Space Museum’s new permanent exhibition “America by Air”
WHEN: Nov. 13; 9 a.m.
WHERE: National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue at Sixth Street S.W.
WHO: Cristián Samper, Acting Secretary, Smithsonian Institution
John R. Dailey, director, National Air and Space Museum
Robert van der Linden, chair of the Aeronautics Division
Barbara Brennan, exhibit designer
“America by Air” tells the story of passenger air travel in the United States, from the early attempts to form airlines only a decade after Kitty Hawk to the commercial challenges and technical sophistication of the 21st-century jet age. Visitors will see seven complete airplanes from the early years of aviation; experience the jet set era inside the front section and cockpit of a real Boeing 747; initiate a realistic take-off from the pilot’s seat of an Airbus A320; feel what it was like to fly on a noisy, vibrating1930s Ford Tri-Motor; and have photos taken with life-like cutouts of soot-covered air mail pilots and traveling stars from Hollywood’s golden era. The gallery opens to the public with a Family Day Saturday, Nov. 17.
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Transportation and Airbus. Additional support is provided by Federal Aviation Administration, Rockwell Collins, Northwest Airlines, Inc and The Boeing Company.
Douglas DC-3 on display in former Air Transportation exhibition c.2005.
In his office in New York, Pan American Airways founder and president Juan T. Trippe used this 19th century globe to plan routes around the world. The globe was featured prominently in Pan Am publicity.