Exhibitions

America by Air traces the history of air transportation in the United States from air mail to airlines.

In the tense years of the Cold War, applications satellites evolved down two separate paths: one devoted to national security needs, the other to civilian interests.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War resulted in a competition to create advanced technologies aimed at gathering intelligence. Aerial reconnaissance played an important role, and the Lockheed SR-71 was a a direct result of this struggle for supremacy.

The airplane emerged from World War I recognized widely for its potential as a military weapon. In the United States, Army pilots and Navy and Marine aviators worked to realize their different visions of the airplane’s ultimate role in American defense.

Learn about America's first swept-wing jet fighter, the F-86 Sabre, and its arch rival, the Soviet MiG-15. You'll also find out how helicopters came into their own during these conflicts.

Nation of Speed recounts our desire to become the fastest on land, sea, air, and space in the pursuit of commerce, power, and prestige.

The Wright brothers inaugurated the aerial age with their historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The influence of their invention is beyond measure. The transport by air of goods and people, quickly and over great distances, and the military applications of flight technology have had vast economic, geopolitical, and cultural impact around the globe. The Wrights helped fashion a radically new world.
 

Learn how rocketry got a boost in the 20th century, altering warfare and taking humans into space.

The new World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation exhibition uses fascinating artifacts and the distinctive sights and sounds of early combat aircraft to tell the story of how remarkable people adapted the new technology of the airplane to warfare and changed how the world fights and flies.

While the German Luftwaffe demonstrated early successes in the use of airpower during World War II, and spurred many technological advancements, faulty military strategy and mismanagement of aircraft development programs ultimately led to its downfall.