All Stories

A brief treatise on the historic tools used in the construction and restoration of the National Air and Space Museum’s Standard J-1 aircraft.

Welding and fabrication specialist Meghann Girard takes us through the way she combined contemporary technology with traditional metalworking techniques to fabricate missing parts from our Lincoln-Standard H.S.

The new Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air gallery is being carefully planned to provide a poignant and exciting perspective on World War II aviation for new audiences.

Explore all of the rich content about the Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer that can be found on the Museum's website.

Amid all these aircraft maintenance manuals, engine overhaul manuals, and parts catalogs in the Museum, there exists a U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) manual that details the use of homing pigeons in combat zones during World War II.

I had to hold back my emotions as I photographed the blue and gold F/A-18C Hornet aircraft approaching the Udvar-Hazy Center on November 18, 2020, by the realization that my photography career had, in some way, just come full circle. My journey began back in 1973 when I had the good fortune of being assigned as the photographer for the U.S. Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team.

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.