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

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  • Escort Excellence

    While the 99th Fighter Squadron continued to fight its way through Sicily and Italy alongside white units, Benjamin Davis returned to the United States to take command of the new 332nd Fighter Group. Another segregated unit, the 332nd included three fighter squadrons -- the 100th, 301st and 302nd --

  • Escape and Evasion Accounts

    Doolittle Raiders After bombing Japan on April 18, 1942, all but one of the sixteen B-25 Doolittle Raid crews crashed or bailed out in China (The remaining crew landed in the USSR, and they successfully escaped internment in 1943). Thanks to the generous help of the Chinese people, 64 of the 75

  • Escort from Italy

    After the Allies had consolidated their battle lines across southern Italy, both heavy and medium bombers, along with light bombers and fighters, continued to attack tactical targets. In addition, the heavy bombers were able to continue strikes against strategic targets in the Balkans, northern

  • Eagle Squadrons

    On the other side of the world, Americans flocked in droves to British and Canadian recruiting stations. Approximately 15,000 joined the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force where, as a rule, they were assimilated into various flying units.The exception was the famed Eagle Squadrons which,

  • Early Free-Fall Parachute

    The first successful Army test jump with a free-fall parachute was made by Mr. Leslie Irvin at McCook Field on April 28, 1919, using a chute designed by Floyd Smith and Guy Ball, both civilian employees at McCook.The parachute on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, one of

  • Endurance Flights

    Click on the following links to learn more about endurance flights during the interwar years.Round-the-Rim FlightTranscontinental Reliability and Endurance TestFirst Alaskan FlightDoolittle's Atlantic-to-Pacific FlightFirst Air-to-Air RefuelingEndurance Flights PropellersFirst Transcontinental

  • Endurance Flights Propellers

    (From left to right)Propeller used on the DH-4B flown by Lts. Lowell H. Smith and John P. Richter to received fuel during the U.S. Army Air Service's first aerial refueling on June 27, 1923.Propeller used on the DH-4B "tanker" flown by Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank W. Seifert during the refueling

  • Escadrille Lafayette

    In February 1918 the airplanes and equipment of the Escadrille Lafayette, together with most of its pilots, were taken over by the United States, while the French ground personnel of the unit were replaced by members of the 103rd Aero Squadron, Air Service, American Expeditionary Force. During its

  • Escadrille Americaine

    Early in World War I, various Americans, sympathetic to the Allied cause, offered their service to France as ambulance drivers, while others fought in the trenches as members of the French Foreign Legion. A handful of these men were successful in transferring to the French Aviation Service prior to

  • Eberhart SE-5E

    When the United States entered World War I, plans called for American manufacturers to mass produce aircraft already in use by the Allies. One of the fighters chosen was the British S.E.5A, designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory. The prototype S.E.5 first flew in December 1916, and deliveries of an