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National Air and Space Museum

Chuck Yeager's Ribbon Bar

What Chuck Yeager's Medals and Ribbons Tell Us About His Career

A ribbon bar in the National Air and Space Museum's collection offers a timeline of the famed aviator’s illustrious military career

A black-and-white photo, tinged light brown, shows around 3/4 of massive airship as it exits a pitch black hangar opening.

Are We in an Airship Renaissance?

One hundred years after the first U.S. Navy airship took to the skies, zeppelins and blimps are poised to make a comeback

06I_FALL2023_UpToSpeed-Foam331_NASM2023-02093_LIVE.jpg

First-Responder Rescue Truck From 9/11 Goes on Display at the National Air and Space Museum

Foam 331's new display at the Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center honors first responders.

Dorothy Cochrane with Extra 260

Why Would a Museum Hang an Airplane Upside Down?

The inverted display of Patty Wagstaff's Extra 260 celebrates her aerobatic career

Sean Tucker Flying Challenger III

Aerobatic Pilot Sean Tucker and Orbis International Will Speak at National Air and Space Museum

On December 1, Tucker appears at the Museum in D.C.; members of the Orbis International team will speak at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, November 17. Both lectures will be streamed live on YouTube

The Perseverance captured this image of itself and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter days before its maiden flight. (NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ ASU/ MSSS/ Seán Doran)

The Wright Moment: Ingenuity Prepares for Flight

Ingenuity, the small, four-pound autonomous aircraft, will attempt the biggest of feats. The Wright brothers lifted their 1903 Wright Flyer off the ground over a century ago, and now the Mars helicopter will attempt the same. Ginny took off from the surface of the Red Planet on Monday, April 19.

Lt. Ward Hitt, Jr., sitting in the cockpit of his North American F-86A Sabre fighter, gives his crew chief the OK hand sign, South Korea.

70 Years Ago: F-86s and MiGs over Korea

On December 17, 1950, the first known aerial combat between swept-wing jet fighters took place in the skies over Korea. The Russian-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 had been recently introduced and its speed and maneuverability caused trouble for the United States and in response, the North American F-86 Sabre was rushed to Korea. Ward Hitt, Jr., a member of the 4th Fighter Interceptor Group, chronicled the early days of the F-86 in combat in a detailed scrapbook.

Chuck Yeager with Bell X-1. (NASM)

Remembering Chuck Yeager, a Pilot with the Right Stuff

The greatest pilot of the greatest generation has passed. Seventy-nine years to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, famed test pilot, World War II ace, and the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound, Brig. Gen. Charles “Chuck” Yeager, died at the age of 97.

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.

Three-quarter left front view of Cessna BW-5 (r/n C6623, National Air Races race no. 98) on the ground, possibly at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, circa September 1928. Posed standing beside nose of aircraft are pilot Francis D.

Francis D. Bowhan: Osage Pilot

Francis Dawson, whose heritage was almost always included in newspaper coverage of his flights (usually with the generic term “Indian”) remains a name to be remembered in Osage County, Oklahoma.

A Type A-13A oxygen mask and Polaroid goggles were worn with this helmet during many flights in 1944-1946. Made by Stefan A. Cavallo, a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).

Stefan A. Cavallo: Test Pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

During World War II, pilots evaluated a wide range of aircraft types for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Test pilot Stefan Cavallo’s flight trials were critical to successful operations during the war.

Ottumwa, Iowa, September 5, 1964: Piccard and crew just prior to an ascent in Raven Industries Model S-50 hot air balloon.

Donald Louis Piccard – Pioneer of Hot Air Ballooning

The world of sport ballooning lost one of its pioneers with the death of Don Piccard on September 14, 2020. He was involved in the renaissance of hot air ballooning and a true pioneer of the sport. All of us who wonder at the sight of a hot air balloon in the sky, are in his debt.

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.

Ground crew servicing a group of Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks. Presumed to be No. 1 Fighter Maintenance Unit at Kukum Field, Guadalcanal. (Photograph Courtesy of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum)

The Cactus Air Force’s Forgotten Spine: The Royal New Zealand Air Force at Guadalcanal

Often overlooked in the histories of the battle is the Cactus Air Forces’ forgotten spine, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) that fought a desperate battle over the skies of the Solomon Islands.

US Navy blimp L-8 in flight to drop off supplies to the Doolittle Raiders off the coast of California. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

A Special Delivery for the Doolittle Raiders

On April 2, 1942, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet was part of a secret plan to strike back at Japan. With no room for aditional 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 specialy delivery.

Audrey Flack, Spitfire, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 73 x 110.5 inches, Gift of Stuart M. Speiser from the Stuart M. Speiser Photorealist Collection, National Air and Space Museum.

Beneath the Surface: Audrey Flack’s Photorealism

Viewing the painting Spitfire, 1973, by photorealist painter Audrey Flack is like looking at a plane spotting puzzle.

Ruth Law stands in front of her Wright Model B biplane at the New York State Fair, Yonkers, 1913.

Women's Suffrage Stories in the Archives

On August 18, 2020, the United States celebrates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that the right to vote "shall not be denied...on account of sex." Several collections in the National Air and Space Museum Archives provide short stories along the long path of the women’s suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment.

A US flag flies over the captured U-858 as it receives a K-ship escort to Lewes, Delaware. (Official US Navy photograph via National Archives and Records Administration.)

K-Ships vs. U-Boats

Historian Thomas Paone explores the important role played by K-ships in hunting German U-Boats during World War II.

65 Squadron received eight new Spitfires through the sponsorship of the East India Fund in July 1940. These new Spitfires featured de Havilland constant-speed propellers.

Better Propellers for “The Few”: Desmond Cooke’s Legacy in the Battle of Britain

Curator Jeremy Kinney explores the contribution of Royal Air Force leader Desmond Cooke to the improvement of Supermarine Spitfires prior to the Battle of Britain.

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.

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