About Us

National Museum of the United States Air Force

Overhead view of Presidential Aircraft at the museum.

Presidential aircraft at National Museum of the United States Air Force

Welcome to the official website of the National Museum of the United States Air Force -- the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world -- located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. This site is provided as a public service by the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Public Affairs Division.

Use the top navigation bar to find information about planning your visit as well as events and activities taking place at the museum.

Meet the Director

Learn about museum divisions.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force collects, researches, conserves, interprets and presents the Air Force’s history, heritage, and traditions, as well as today’s mission to fly, fight, win … air power anytime, anywhere to a global audience through engaging exhibits, educational outreach, special programs, and the stewardship of the national historical collection. With our educational outreach, we motivate, educate, and inspire youth interest in the United States Air Force (USAF) and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The statutory duties delegated by the Secretary of the Air Force (SECAF) are accomplished on behalf of the American People.

We are the keepers of their stories™

Video by NMUSAF PA

Museum Audio Tour 02: Early Years Gallery: The Early Years

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Dec. 31, 1969 | 2:07

It is most fitting that the museum is located near Dayton, Ohio, the home of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Wright brothers knew the U.S. Army would be an essential customer to make their flying machine company a success. It took them until 1909 to convince the Army Signal Corps to buy an airplane, and they sold one to the government only after passing many rigorous tests for endurance, distance and speed. At the entrance to the Early Years Gallery, you stand next to an exact reproduction of the Wright 1909 Flyer – the world’s first military heavier-than-air flying machine. It’s easy to imagine how great the potential for accidents must have been, and you may begin to understand how courageous those early pilots were. One exhibit is a testament to that very fact. Photographs and a broken propeller recall a day in September 1908 when Lt. Thomas Selfridge died in a crash during a flight trial with Orville Wright, thus becoming the world’s first military aircraft fatality. Nearby, you’ll also see the Curtiss Pusher, an aircraft designed by another famous early aviation pioneer, Glenn Curtiss, and the second type of airplane purchased by the military. Notice the second seat behind the pilot for a passenger or perhaps a student pilot to give him some feel for the aircraft before he was to fly solo. Also look for the Bleriot Monoplane … In 1909 a Frenchman by the name of Louis Bleriot, using a monoplane of his design, completed the first successful powered flight across the English Channel. Nothing could have more dramatically awakened Great Britain to the threat posed to their security by this new invention. Within a few years, Americans also realized that the oceans presented no barriers to airplanes.

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airplanesearlytouraircraftaviationhistorymuseumheritage