In support of an official event 

The Museum will be closed Sunday, May 25
In addition, the Fourth Hangar will be closed Saturday, May 24

Access to the Presidential Gallery will be limited from May 15 to June 5
 

Fact Sheet Alphabetical List

Fact Sheet Search

  • Global Peacetime Transition

    Following the Korean and First Indochina Wars, the Air Rescue Service (ARS) switched from a wartime posture to a global search and rescue (SAR) service.Maintaining their primary objective of saving lives and Air Crew Recovery (ACR), the first National SAR Plan of March 1956 added the responsibility

  • Alice King Chatham - Art to R&D

    After completing her fine arts degree at the Dayton Art Institute in the 1930s, the military recruited Alice King Chatham to work on high-altitude protective gear. As a personal equipment design engineer/scientist in advanced biotechnology at the Aero Medical Laboratory her knowledge of the human

  • Eddie Rickenbacker Lost at Sea

    As a nonmilitary observer, WWI Ace Eddie Rickenbacker had a mission to evaluate and report the status of U.S. Army Air Forces in the Pacific theatre during WWII. Unsuccessfully searching for Canton Island and low on fuel, their B-17 went down in the Pacific Ocean. Rickenbacker and the crew were

  • Protectors: Cold War Air Police

    Enlisted Air Police contributed to peacekeeping during the Cold War by keenly guarding critical combat assets.In 1948, shortly after becoming an independent service, the US Air Force renamed its military police “Air Police.” In the decades that followed, they shaped a new identity specific to the

  • Sgt William Ocker

    The “Father of Blind Flight”Captivated by flight after witnessing early tests by the Wright brothers, Sgt William Ocker became a highly proficient aircraft mechanic and the Army’s third enlisted pilot. His ability to rapidly master aviation principles, combined with a passion for improving flying

  • Douglas A-1H Skyraider The Proud American

    United States Air Force Skyraiders in Southeast Asia are often remembered for their support of search and rescue (SAR) missions. Operating under the call sign Sandy, the A-1's extended loiter time and massive firepower offered pilots the ability to protect downed Airmen for extended periods. Whereas

  • Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie

    The XQ-58A Valkyrie is the first example of a new class of high performance unmanned aircraft that can be rapidly built and used in large numbers, and will work in teams with manned aircraft. The XQ-58A on display flew the first flight tests for this aircraft type.To respond to rising costs for

  • United States Space Force Exhibit

    The U.S. Space Force (USSF) is the newest branch of the Armed Forces, established on December 20, 2019. Space Force members are called Guardians, and their motto is semper supra, or “always above.”The USSF organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in

  • Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker

    Boeing KC-135R StratotankerThe KC-135 ranks among the U.S. Air Force’s most iconic aircraft. First delivered to the USAF in June 1957, the KC-135 operated for over sixty years as the USAF’s principal refueling aircraft. Originally developed to extend the range of Strategic Air Command’s bomber

  • Nuclear Deterrence Exhibit

    This exhibit covers nuclear weapons creation and testing from the beginning of the Cold War to the 1990s. It explains the advent of super-powerful thermonuclear or “H-bombs” after the period of early atomic bombs, explains fission vs. fusion, and traces US testing in the Pacific and in Nevada. It