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On December 17, 1950, the first known aerial combat between swept-wing jet fighters took place in the skies over Korea. 

On November 18, 2020, Cmdr. Frank “Walleye” Weisser, USN, a member of the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team, flew into Dulles International Airport to deliver a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Douglas DC-3 was once considered by many the greatest airplane of all time. However, although the DC-3 has a flight range of over 1,400 miles, once an aircraft becomes an artifact in our collection, moving it even a few short miles involves a range of complexities. Learn more about the complexities of its recent move!artif

There have been great movies about military aviation for almost as long as there have been movies and airplanes—seriously, the very first Best Picture Oscar went to a WWI aero-epic called Wings (and if you ever win bar trivia with that, buy us a drink). Eventually, the US military realized that high adventure onscreen could boost their recruiting efforts, and began to officially cooperate with films featuring flying service members. In this episode, we’ll look at two movies staring iconic aviators—Top Gun and Captain Marvel—and discuss how the military leans into their role as supporting players on the silver screen.

On April 2, 1942, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet was part of a secret plan to strike back at Japan. With no room for additional airplanes to land on the flight deck filled with B-25 Mitchell bombers, the US Navy turned to the Navy blimp L-8 for a special delivery.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver could have been the U.S. Navy’s frontline carrier-based dive bomber for much of World War II, but problems with its development delayed its introduction and saddled it with a bad reputation.

Aeronautics curator Christophere Moore explores one important advancement on the B-29 Superfortress: its central fire control system.

Aeronautics curator Bob van der Linden discusses the last-minute "wonder weapons" planned by Japan in the final days of World War II.

On August 6, 1945, the crew of a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare, called “Little Boy,” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan.

Curator Russ Lee discusses the lesser-known Japanese fighter aircraft Shiden Kai.