All Stories

On August 19, 1942, Fairchild Aircraft Division of the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation opened Plant 7, the first unit in the company to employ Black workers, both men and women, as part of their WWII aircraft manufacturing efforts. In late 1944, Plant 5 at Wilson Boulevard and Kuhn Avenue, manufacturing corrugated parts for the Martin PBM Mariner, replaced Plant 7 as the designated plant for Black employees. A rich, yet incomplete, record of their wartime service can be found in the Fairchild Industries, Inc. Collection at the National Air and Space Museum Archives.

The healing power of art.

The Museum's Archives holds large digitized collections highlighting the contributions of high-profile women, ranging from aviators Louise McPhetridge Thaden and the Ninety-Nines to astronauts Sally K. Ride and Kathryn D. Sullivan.  There are also smaller collections, some containing just one to two documents, representing women whose experiences are just as important to telling the full story of women in aviation and space flight.

Late in World War Two the German's developed the Heinkel He 162 Spatz, an early jet fighter part of the Volksjäger (People’s Fighter) project.

Cornelius Coffey was an advocate for the education of Black Americans in aeronautics.  

The new gallery seeks to better frame the story of World War II around the idea that aviation was central to victory, and the exhibition will highlight key areas of wartime aeronautical innovation that changed the nature and experience of warfare. 

German forces pushing into the Soviet Union felt nearly invincible—until they met the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik.

When metal was in short supply, the de Havilland Mosquito prevailed without it.

We report the stories of those who’ve pursued unconventional careers in aerospace.

Highlighting artifacts in storage. Grumman TBF-1 Avenger in Building 22 at Smithsonian Air and at Space Museum’s Paul E. Garber Facility in Hillcrest Heights, Maryland.