This exhibition is now closed.

You may not realize it, as you while away the time on your long flight from the mainland to Hawaii, but you are traveling to one of the most remote places on Earth.

Jetliner travel makes it easy to forget how challenging it once was to reach Hawaii by air. The Hawaiian Islands are mere specks in the vast Pacific. Flying there in the early days of flight was not for the faint of heart. Bad weather, a navigational error, or an engine failure could spell doom.

Hawaii by Air recounts how things have changed since then. How air travel to Hawaii developed and grew. How the travel experience evolved along with the airplane. And how air travel changed Hawaii itself.

 

Related Topics

National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
Plan Your Visit
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  • Red letters read "Flight of the Silver Bird" above a picture of a silver airplane flying above the ocean with Hawaii in the background.
  • Black and white hand drawn map of flight path past Hawaii to Eastern Asia and western Pacific islands.
  • Black and white hand drawn map of flight path to Hawaii.