From the Archives

Friday the Thirteenth always puts me in the mood to listen to Stevie Wonder's hit, “Superstition.” Although I’m not particularly superstitious, I’m probably not going to take chances like a group of aviation cadets did at the Air Corps Training Detachment, Hawthorne School of Aeronautics, Orangeburg, South Carolina, in February of 1942.

Washington, DC, always awaits its first real snow day with anticipation and trepidation. I was curious what the National Air and Space Museum collections had in the way of snow activities.

Although many photos and memories are going digital, scrapbooking is still a big pastime in America.  You can go to any craft store and find an aisle devoted to paper, stickers, and pre-made scrapbooks.  Although many of the scrapbooks in the National Air and Space Museum Archives’ collections are of the premade store-bought variety, we have a few personalized wooden scrapbook covers that are works of art.

What do you get when you combine triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), melanophobia (fear of the color black), and ailurophobia (fear of cats)?

Nothing says ‪#‎ThrowbackThursday‬ quite like Polaroids. Enjoy this look back at our Historical Research Center - an early predecessor to our Archives and Library, which was located in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building. 

As I was flipping through a set of historical National Air and Space Museum photographs in the Archives a few months ago, one caught my eye—was that a Hecht’s window display?  Upon closer examination, it was!  But the display from the 1950s wasn’t highlighting the usual dresses, jackets, or shoes.  Instead, it featured models from the National Air Museum in celebration of the 30^th Anniversary of the Anacostia Naval Air Station (NAS) in Washington, DC.

Passed over S.F. Bay Bridge, along Embarcadero, Marina, Presidio, etc. Just after passing over Golden Gate Bridge encountered low cumulus clouds on the coast. “On top” from there on over “snowy desert.” Later clear & broken—smooth air. Early morning, “detoured” to south to avoid several storm areas. Arrived Honolulu (Pearl City) after passing over “Diamond Head” & Waikiki Beach. Very elaborate “Hawaiian welcome.”

Every Fourth of July, visitors and locals alike crowd the National Mall to watch the fireworks show with the Washington Monument as one of its focal points. The monument reopened to the public in May 2014 as the last vestiges of scaffolding were removed from it, a visible reminder of the damage caused by a 2011 earthquake. Every year, thousands of visitors photograph themselves on the National Mall with the monument in the background. It is no surprise that it is popular in aviation photography as well.

It's hard to spot the familiar US insignia of the white star on a blue circle, but the black and white stripes the Lightnings wear stand out easily - which is a very good thing. In 1944, in the months leading up to the invasion of Nazi occupied France, the Allied planners of Operation OVERLORD realized that on the day of the invasion - D-Day - the skies over the invasion zone would be filled with aircraft.

As people start making their summer vacation plans, I often daydream about traveling around the world.  Then I realize that I don’t even need to leave the office to see far off places. The National Air and Space Museum Archives' photography collection allows me to travel anywhere (and almost any time in the past 100 or so years)! My virtual vacation begins with the pyramids in Giza, Egypt, in 1926.