Now You Can Fold Planes From the National Air and Space Museum and Watch Them Fly

Visit the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, or Chantilly, Virginia, and you’ll see a lot of planes. You’ll find old-timey biplanes made of wood, commercial and military jets of aluminum, and experimental aircraft of lightweight composites. But take a closer look, and you’re likely to see a lot of airplanes made from paper, too.

Every year, thousands of kids and adults learn to fold and fly paper airplanes at both the National Mall building and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. These paper airplanes— and the lessons learned during the museum’s very competitive Paper Airplane Contest— help provide visitors with a better understanding of why airplanes look and fly the way they do.

So what better way to extend that hands-on fun, sense of exploration, and, yes, maybe a little competitiveness, than by creating a book of paper airplanes that you can fly at home, at school, or even at work? By folding and flying the paper airplanes in this book, you’ll discover how different designs and aircraft features affect the flight of your airplane, sometimes in unexpected ways.

All the paper airplane designs in Smithsonian Book of Paper Airplanes were inspired by airplanes in the National Air and Space Museum’s vast collection. In some instances, the paper airplane physically resembles an aircraft on display. In others, the paper airplane might fly like one of the famous aircraft in our collection. For example, if you choose to make a paper airplane that is designed to go fast, we thought about which planes in our collection could fly fast and had a streamlined, or sleek, design. Or maybe you want to do tricks with your paper airplane. If so, we’ve found aerobatic airplanes in our collection that relate well to your plane.

Not even sure how an airplane or a paper airplane flies? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. This book explains the science behind flight—basically, what makes an airplane move through the air, whether it’s made of wood, aluminum, or paper. Within these pages are answers to many of the questions visitors to the National Air and Space Museum have about flight. What role do gravity and air play in flight? What are the forces of flight and how do they affect the design and flight of an aircraft? What are the different parts of an airplane and what do they do?

The book includes full-color, specially designed tear out sheets for each plane, but you can get a sneak peak of the illustrated instructions below and practice your folding now:

If you still have questions after reading this book, fly on over to the National Air and Space Museum’s award-winning website, How Things Fly. There you’ll find more in-depth information about flight in Earth’s atmosphere and in the vacuum of space. You’ll also find challenging online activities, creative design challenges, and easy, hands-on experiments focused on the science of flight.

So what are you waiting for? The preflight check is complete, and you’ve been cleared for takeoff. Time to get the wheels up and the plane in the sky with Smithsonian Book of Paper Airplanes, available from Smithsonian Books. Visit Smithsonian Books’ website to learn more about its publications and a full list of titles. 

Excerpt from Smithsonian Book of Paper Airplanes © 2025 by Smithsonian Institution

Michael D. Hulslander | READ MORE

MICHAEL D. HULSLANDER is a science content expert focused on programs and exhibitions at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. He's worked in museums and zoos for more than 30 years—researching, writing, presenting, and evaluating science programs for school groups, families, and the general public. He also manages the Museum’s learning centers: the Textron How Things Fly Gallery and the AAR Design Hangar.