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

  • Boot Hooks

    Note: This item is currently in storage.Boot hooks are designed to make pulling on tall riding boots a quick and easy process. Holding the handle of the boot hook, the hook ends of the boot hooks are then slipped through the boot pull straps attached on the sides of riding boots. Sometimes the boot

  • Aircraft Recognition Collage

    Note: This item is currently in storage.This aircraft recognition collage, created by the 4th Photo Section, IV Corps Observation Group, assisted AEF personnel in identifying different types of operational German aircraft.Click here to return to the Featured World War I Artifacts index.

  • Brown Leather Riding Boots

    Note: This item is currently in storage.Leather riding boots were worn by members of the U.S. Cavalry Units during World War I. The tall shafts of these riding boots helped to protect cavalry soldiers' lower legs from debris kicked up by their horses, as well as protecting from riding impact against

  • U.S. Army School of Military Aeronautics at The Ohio State University

    Note: This item is currently in storage.As World War I continued throughout Europe, it quickly became apparent that there was a shortage of trained pilots in the United States. The War Department and the U.S. Army formed the Aviation Cadet Training Program, and commissioned six universities across

  • Balloon Hook

    Note: This item is currently in storage.This is a balloon hook. Most of the balloons and balloon accessories used by the U.S. during World War I were produced in France, as the balloon industry in France had been in full production for at least 10 years prior to the United States' entry into the

  • Signals Between Aeroplanes and Artillery

    Note: This item is currently in storage.This Royal Flying Corps instruction book and signal guide was produced on heavy card stock and provided quick reference for pilots and observers directing artillery fire by airplane. This guide belonged to Lt. John A. Sperry, a pilot with the 139th Aero

  • Lt. Lloyd “Scotty” Hathcock

    Captured in Italy during the summer of 1944, Lt. (later Maj.) Lloyd "Scotty" Hathcock spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft III and Stalag VII-A prison camps. After the war, Hathcock stayed in the service and helped to desegregate the U.S. Air Force.Click here to return to the Tuskegee Airmen

  • Pre-war Super Bombers

    Although the Boeing B-17 was to gain greater fame, Boeing also designed and built an even larger four-engine bomber in the mid-1930s, the XB-15. Its design was actually begun before the B-17, but it did not make its first flight until 1937, more than two years after that of the B-17. With a wingspan

  • Proving the Flying Fortress

    As a result of the General Staff's decision, only 13 YB-17s and one YB-17A were ordered by mid-1937 as compared to 133 B-18s and 177 B-18As. The Air Corps was determined to prove the value of the four-engine B-17 with this handful of service test planes. It flew its YB-17s at every opportunity over

  • AN/MRC-108 Communications System

    The commitment of American forces to combat in South Vietnam created an urgent need for radio communications between air and ground forces, which used different radios. In response, the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Division developed the AN/MRC-108 in 1965 for use by USAF personnel operating on