Modern Military Aviation

A new gallery explores how American military aviation evolved, grew, and shaped our world in the years since World War II.

One month before the launch of Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, President Bill Clinton stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) as it cruised off the Virginia coast. “When word of a crisis breaks out in Washington,” he said, “it’s no accident that the first question that comes to everyone’s lips is: ‘Where’s the nearest carrier?’ ”

Since the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s, aviation has been central to U.S. military and geopolitical efforts. When a crisis occurs around the globe, often the first option that American leaders consider is sending in an aircraft carrier, launching an airstrike, sending reconnaissance airplanes to gather information, or delivering life-saving aid via humanitarian airlift. The National Air and Space Museum’s new gallery, Modern Military Aviation, will let visitors explore how U.S. military aviation has become a dominant global force.

Condensing approximately 80 years of complex history into some 5,000 square feet of exhibition space is a challenge. Hence, the gallery uses a thematic approach that encourages visitors to explore the topics and artifacts that catch their interest. They could be drawn to one of the large conflicts of the period such as the Vietnam War or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They could also learn about the evolution of weapons technology or medical air rescues.

Upon first entering the gallery, visitors are confronted with two nuclear weapons that were used as training devices (without warheads). A display that features one atomic (fission) bomb and one thermonuclear (fusion, hydrogen) bomb explores the transformative power of nuclear weapons. Indeed, most of the technology and history featured in the gallery is, in some way, related to the existence and proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The gallery also exhibits some notable aircraft. Hanging overhead is one of the most emblematic symbols of the Korean War: North American’s F-86F Sabre, displayed inverted, as if in a tense dogfight. The Museum recently acquired this Sabre for the new gallery. It will be painted in the markings of the 334th “Fighting Eagles” Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, a unit famous for aerial duels against MiG-15s during the Korean War. The 334th produced several American aces, including Major Frederick “Boots” Blesse, Captain Manuel “Pete” Fernandez, and the first U.S. jet ace, Lebanese American Major James Jabara.

The newly acquired F-86F has an unusual history: In 1955, as part of a mutual defense assistance plan, the aircraft began service in the Venezuelan air force. Then, from 1974 to 1994, it flew with the Bolivian air force, where it was among the last F-86Fs in operational service in the world. (The Museum has another F-86, which is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.)

Replacing the F-86F’s South American markings with those of the U.S. during the Korean War has required a massive effort by the Museum’s preservation, restoration, and conservation experts. As they work on the aircraft, they have uncovered a fuller picture of its history. Some details are expected, such as the all-Spanish instrument panel, but others—such as field-modified vents added to an access panel to help the aircraft deal with the high-temperature climate of South America—have been fascinating to discover. As the aircraft treatment team readies the Sabre for display, they are working carefully to preserve and thoroughly document as much of its heritage as possible.

One of the most iconic artifacts in the gallery is the Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, renowned for its service in the Vietnam War. Having previously been on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Museum’s UH-1 is coming to downtown D.C. for the first time. Hueys performed a variety of roles in Southeast Asia, from troop movement to medical evacuation to gunships and more, but the UH-1 on display in the gallery had the rarer, specialized role of a smokeship. Nicknamed “Smokey III” by its crew, this UH-1 flew missions low and slow, in front of advancing U.S. troops, carrying special equipment to generate thick smoke screens to hide those troops from enemy forces. This mission was particularly risky, and the Museum’s helicopter has the battle damage (evident from multiple patches and repairs) to prove it. (See “The Smoke Ship,” Fall 2022.)

The story of helicopters in the Vietnam War is much larger than just the Huey. Also included in the gallery is a cavalry Stetson—one of the large felt hats that visitors might remember from such films as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic, Apocalypse Now. The Stetson in the gallery was donated by Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Mills Jr., one of the most decorated rotary-wing pilots of the war. With more than 3,300 combat hours flying the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse helicopter and the Bell AH-1 Cobra, Mills developed many of the key combat tactics used by scout pilots in the war. Mills was shot down 16 times, wounded three times, and earned an unusually high number of medals, including three Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, and four Distinguished Flying Crosses.

The gallery documents the heavy toll of the Vietnam War not just through display of large aircraft, but via smaller, more personal artifacts. Many U.S. pilots who were shot down became prisoners of war (POWs). One exhibit features a prisoner uniform worn by U.S. Air Force F-4 pilot Major General William “Bud” Breckner, as well as pieces of brick from Hỏa Lò prison, referred to by U.S. service personnel as the “Hanoi Hilton.” 

Americans at home had opportunities to connect to POWs in Vietnam, including through metal bracelets labeled with the name of a prisoner. One such bracelet is exhibited in the gallery. It belonged to Lisa Henry, a social studies teacher from Tennessee who had worn the bracelet as a young girl. The name on her bracelet is Colonel Joseph Kittinger, who was commander of the 555th “Triple Nickel” Fighter Squadron. Kittinger was shot down while flying an F-4 in 1972. (He is also known for his pioneering contributions to high-altitude ballooning and skydiving experiments in the 1950s.)

As an adult, Henry saw a documentary about Kittinger. After she connected with him sometime later, she returned the bracelet that bore his name, saying: “I now understand not only did [my parents] give me the bracelet to wear as a token to remember our POWs, they gave me the bracelet to help me deal with my own fears about the Vietnam War.” Despite being one of the smallest artifacts in the gallery, the tiny piece of metal tells a powerful story.

The suffering caused by the Vietnam War extended to the other side, particularly in Laos, which is still the most heavily bombed country in history. Unexploded ordnance left from the bombing campaigns from over 50 years ago still litters the countryside and remains a threat to Laotian citizens. There are many compelling stories on efforts to reclaim these remnants of the conflict, and the gallery will include utensils and jewelry fashioned from the metal of unexploded bombs.

One of the most pressing challenges the gallery designers faced was the simple fact that most aircraft from this period were too large to be displayed in the gallery. We would have loved, for example, to have included our Grumman F-14 Tomcat, but it is almost the length of the entire gallery floor. The gallery does, however, display the variety of weapons modern fighters carry and it illustrates how these weapons have become more sophisticated. Through a massive exhibit that the gallery design team has nicknamed the “missile wall,” visitors can get a close look at several guns, rockets, missiles, and bombs. The wall includes mainstays such as the heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, the AIM-54 Phoenix, and the legendary GAU-8 “Avenger” 30mm cannon, which is carried by the Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog.” 

During the wars of the 21st century—particularly the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq (Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom)—U.S. forces used a different playbook than many previous conflicts. One such difference is that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were focused on counter-terrorism. And one of the most ubiquitous aircraft of these wars was a drone: the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator. The gallery emphasizes that U.S. combat drones are not autonomous robots (not yet, anyway), but rather they are controlled by human operators stationed around the globe—as well as in-theater teams tasked with caring for drones while they’re on the ground. The gallery includes a large mockup of a drone’s ground control station, part of which is devoted to an interactive activity designed to help visitors understand the challenges of operating a remotely piloted aircraft. 

Hanging above the ground control station is the aforementioned MQ-1 Predator, arguably the most historically significant MQ-1 that exists. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks (discussed in the gallery through a piece of wreckage from one of the aircraft that hit the World Trade Center in 2001), three MQ-1s were sent to Afghanistan to begin combat operations. The Predator hanging in the gallery—the first to fire Hellfire missiles in a test environment—was one of them. It soon became the first drone to fire a precision-guided weapon in a live combat situation, when, on October 7, 2001, this Predator launched a Hellfire missile at a vehicle outside a structure near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in an attempt to flush out Taliban leader Mullah Omar. 

Another aspect that sets the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan apart from previous conflicts is the participation of women in combat aviation. The policy banning women from these roles was lifted in 1993 (see “Just Doing Their Jobs,” Winter 2024). One of the women who began flying in the years after was A-10 pilot Colonel Kim “Killer Chick” Campbell. In 2003, when flying a close air support mission over Baghdad to protect ground troops, Campbell’s A-10 Thunderbolt sustained heavy damage from ground fire, losing all its hydraulic systems. Campbell managed to fly the airplane back to her base in manual-reversion mode, an extremely difficult task that few pilots have accomplished, and one for which she earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. The gallery not only features Campbell’s flight gear, but also a piece of the tail of her A-10, pitted with bullet and shrapnel holes.

Warfare does not always involve bullets and explosions—one of the most critical responsibilities of military aviation is the gathering of intelligence. To highlight the role played by reconnaissance aircraft, the gallery includes a Hycon 73B Camera, the type carried by Lockheed’s U-2. The camera is one of many artifacts in the gallery that have been in the Museum’s collection but are being publicly displayed for the first time. This particular camera was the one that flew over Cuba on October 14, 1962, recording images of Soviet missile launch sites. The photos were then sent to the White House, which precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis.

American military aviation encompasses all the U.S. armed services, and all are featured in the gallery. When it comes to Naval aviation, many previous visitors to the Museum will be pleased to know that the scale model of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65), with its complement of 83 aircraft, is returning to display. At 1:100 scale, the model is rich with detail. It was made by model builder Stephen Henninger, who spent more than 12,000 hours building the model over 12 years. 

Those interested in U.S. Marine Corps aviation can experience something the Museum has rarely offered: a touchable aircraft. Visitors will be able to literally touch history in the form of the nose section from a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet. We usually do not allow visitors to touch artifacts, but this is a special case that hopefully will help visitors connect with modern combat aircraft and better understand the technology that goes into operating a high-performance fighter jet.

One aspect of military aviation that many visitors might not be aware of are the impressive numbers of humanitarian airlift missions that the U.S. armed services perform each year. The nature of these missions includes delivering life-saving food and medicine, evacuating refugees, supplying scientific research missions, hunting hurricanes to track dangerous weather, and even delivering food to animals and wildlife that become trapped due to natural disasters. Among the many artifacts hanging above visitors in the gallery is a large, bright orange reservoir known as a Bambi bucket—used in firefighting missions. Military aircraft can carry the buckets beneath them to drop water or other fire-retardant material over wildfires. 

The U.S. military has a prodigious history in airlift operations, one that goes back decades. In 1948, the earliest major standoff of the Cold War began when the Soviet Union put a blockade around East Berlin. The U.S. and Britain responded by airlifting food and supplies to the struggling civilians of the city. One of the pilots in the effort was Colonel Gail Halvorsen, who took it upon himself to drop candy tied to mini-parachutes as a way to build morale for the people below, earning him the nickname “Candy Bomber.” 

One of Halvorsen’s mini-parachutes is featured in the gallery. This story—a pilot from Utah, flying aircraft built in California, carrying candy manufactured in Pennsylvania (and around the country), dropping it to citizens in Germany, all as part of a larger conflict with the Soviet Union over a potential European battlefield that threatened to engulf the entire world in a deadly and destructive war—is deeply inspiring. Halvorsen’s story is, in fact, the essence of what the Modern Military Aviation gallery strives to accomplish: Using authentic artifacts to tell moving personal stories that help us understand the global significance of American military aviation and how it has shaped the world. 

Michael W. Hankins is curator in the aeronautics department of the National Air and Space Museum.

This article is from the Spring 2025 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, from the earliest moments of flight to today. Explore the full issue.

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