Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Larry Burke

Stories from this author

The F/A-18C Hornet, Bureau Number 163439, of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, makes its last stop as it joins the National Air and Space Museum’s collection.

A Blue Angel Makes Its Final Flight Into The National Collection

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.

General Douglas MacArthur making remarks at the surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri. Behind him are representatives of the major Allied powers. U.S. National Archives, Army Signal Corps Collection, USA C-2716.

Celebrating the End of the War

Aboard the battleship USS Missouri, representatives from the Empire of Japan met with those of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, China, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to sign the document that formally ended World War II.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver: The “Big-Tailed Beast”

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.

Navy pilot Edward Lewis “Whitey” Feightner (National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution)

Remembering Edward Lewis “Whitey” Feightner

Curator Laurence Burke looks back on the extensive career of Navy pilot Edward L. “Whitey” Feightner.