Fact Sheet Alphabetical List

Fact Sheet Search

  • Corregidor

    During the first day of hostilities in the Philippines, the AAF lost more than half of its planes as a result of Japanese bombing and strafing attacks and aerial combat. Many AAF personnel no longer needed to maintain airplanes were transferred to ground units and were eventually captured or killed

  • Tuxedo Trousers

    Tuxedo trousers worn by the donor, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Harry W. Brown, when he was one of the few USAAF pilots in Hawaii to take off to engage attacking Japanese planes.Click here to return to the Pearl Harbor Overview.

  • Col. Lew Sanders A-2 Jacket

     This is the A-2 flying jacket worn by the donor, Col. (Ret.) Lew Sanders, when he reportedly became the first person in U.S. uniform to shoot down an enemy aircraft in World War II. Flying a P-36 of the 46th Fighter Squadron, he was one of a handful of USAAF pilots to get off the ground during the

  • Lt. Philip Rasmussen and His P-36A

    A Day that Will Live in InfamyThe Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, completely surprised American forces. Japanese carrier-borne bombers and fighters devastated the Army Air Forces, Navy and Marine installations on the island of Oahu. The attack killed or

  • Day of Infamy: The Pearl Harbor Attack

    At 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a Japanese force of 183 airplanes attacked U.S. military and naval facilities on Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands without warning. For 30 minutes, dive bombers, level bombers and torpedo planes struck airfields and naval vessels.After a 15-minute lull, a second wave

  • Ruhrstahl X-4 Air-to-Air Missile

    Allied bombing success in Germany during World War II led the Germans to develop air-to-air missiles. The X-4 was to be launched from fighter planes against B-17 bombers. This missile, like the V-weapons, is an example of advanced technology that failed to prevent German defeat, but previewed future

  • V-2 with Meillerwagen

    The German army developed the V-2, known also as the A4 missile, as an alternative to super-long-range artillery, which the Treaty of Versailles prohibited after World War I. Designed by rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun, the V-2 was a breakthrough in missile technology but failed to prevent

  • Republic/Ford JB-2 Loon (V-1 Buzz Bomb)

    The JB-2 was a U.S.-made copy of the famous German V-1 surface-to-surface, pilotless flying bomb first used against England in June 1944. The Republic Aviation Corp. built the airframe for the JB-2 from drawings prepared at Wright Field, using dimensions taken from the remains of several V-1s

  • VB-1 Azon Guided Bomb

    The VB-1 (VB for vertical bomb) was a 1,000-pound bomb fitted with a tail assembly containing radio-controlled movable rudders. These permitted the bombardier to attain greater accuracy by steering the bomb to the right or left (referred to as azimuth, hence the name Azon) after its release from the

  • Rheinmetall MK 108 30mm Cannon

    Displayed at the museum is the 30mm MK 108, which was a belt-fed, low velocity cannon with electric ignition. In addition to the two 13mm MG 131 machine guns mounted above the engine, the Bf 109G-10 carried either a 20mm MG 151 or a 30mm MK 108 cannon that fired through the propeller hub. Although