All Stories

On April 17, 1945, 75 years ago to this day, Flak-Bait's Army Air Forces crew led it on its 200th mission.

Curator Bob van der Linden looks at the history of the flying boat, and how infrastructure investments during World War II changed commercial aviation. 

The Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery, home of the Lindberghs, Earhart, Doolittle, and Piper, among many other pioneers, closes on October 7 as part of the transformation of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, but it will be back in 2022. We explore the many versions of Pioneers of Flight.

A museum staff photographer reflects on photographing in black and white and learning to see in shades of grey.

This summer, visitors had a unique opportunity to see the transformation of American commercial aviation on the floor of the Mary Engen Restoration Hangar: the Ford 5-AT Tri-Motor, the Boeing 247-D, and the Douglas DC-3

Since the earliest days of flight, air racing has been an exciting motorsports activity. We have in our collection many of the aircraft that made history by winning races and setting records, like Steve Wittman’s Special 20 Buster, which lived two lives in air racing and proved to be an inspiration for an entire class of air racers.

To the best of our knowledge, Flak-Bait is the only World War II bomber of its kind to retain the original insulating fabric panels lining the interior of the forward fuselage. To preserve the original fabric, we performed a number of innovative conservation treatments.

In honor of Fourth of July, we explore artifacts in our collection with American flags.

We explore Smithsonian aeronautics historian Paul Garber's list of thirteen most important aircraft of all time, circa the 1950s.

We explore the D-Day missions of the Museum's Martin B-26B-25-MA Marauder Flak-Bait.