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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  • MK82 Air Inflatable Retarder Bomb

    The MK82 AIR is a 500-pound bomb modified with a BSU-49 high drag tail assembly. The "ballute" air bag, which deploys from the tail, provides a high speed, low altitude delivery capability by quickly slowing the bomb and allowing the aircraft to escape the blast pattern. The pilot may select either

  • Mark 41 Thermonuclear Bomb

    The Mk-41 "hydrogen" bomb, first produced in 1960, is now obsolete and no longer in USAF service. Designed to be carried by B-47, B-52 and B-70 aircraft, it was to be released at high-altitude, using parachutes to retard its fall, thereby permitting the releasing plane to escape from the target area

  • MK39 Nuclear Bomb

    The MK39 was basically an improved MK15 equipped with parachutes to provide more release options for the delivery aircraft. It was carried by B-47 and B-52 bombers. Development of the MK39 began in 1955, and the first bombs entered the national inventory in 1957. The MK39 featured a shock-absorbing

  • Mark 28 Thermonuclear Bomb

    The Mk-28 hydrogen bomb was first produced in 1958 and remained in service until the early 1990s. Aircraft carried a streamlined variant externally or non-streamlined version internally. Used by various fighter and bomber aircraft (F-100, F-104, F-105, B-47, B-52, B-66 and others), these weapons

  • Mark 17 Thermonuclear Bomb

    The MK-17 was the first operational USAF thermonuclear "H-Bomb" (The "H" refers to the hydrogen which was fused under intense heat conditions to produce unprecedented energy yields).The MK-17 was carried by B-36s and was in service from 1954 until 1957. By today's standards, it was extremely large

  • Mark 7 Nuclear Bomb

    The Mk-7, initially produced in 1952, was the first nuclear weapon that could be carried by USAF (and U.S. Navy) fighter aircraft. Although it was carried externally by fighters (F-84, F-100 and F-101), it also could be carried internally by bombers such as the B-57. Because of the lack of ground

  • Mark VI Aerial Bomb

    Developed in 1949, the Mark VI Aerial Bomb was basically an improved version of the "Fat Man" bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945. An implosion bomb (involving implosion-triggered plutonium fission), it had a higher yield, was lighter and had improved ballistic (flying)

  • M61A1 Vulcan Cannon

    The M61A1 Vulcan cannon is a six-barrel 20mm weapon capable of firing 6,000 rounds per minute. Incorporating the same basic principle invented by Richard J. Gatling in the 1860s, the M61A1 multiple gun barrels rotate rapidly to allow a high rate of fire. Because each barrel fires only one of every

  • M102 105mm Cannon

    Designed for easy transport by helicopters or light vehicles, the M102 105mm cannon first saw service in Southeast Asia with the U.S. Army in 1966. The M102's light weight made it well-suited for use on AC-130 gunships. One of the side-firing 40mm guns on the AC-130 was replaced with the modified

  • Martin Marietta LANTIRN Navigation and Targeting System

    The Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting InfraRed for Night system gives Air Force strike aircraft an accurate, night, low-altitude, precision bombing capability. The system consists of two externally-mounted pods carried on some fighter aircraft. LANTIRN was first employed during the Persian Gulf