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

  • Ploesti Mission Details

    The information and maps on this page are from: Army Air Force Reference History The Ploesti Mission of 1 August 1943 (short title AAFRH-3) prepared June 1944 Click on one of the links below to view tables related to the Ploesti mission.Target and Target Forces PlansBomb Load PlanOperational Record

  • Ploesti

    While Allied and Axis forces were battling in Sicily, the USAAF staged one of the war's most daring heavy bomber raids. The target was the Ploesti oil fields in Rumania, estimated to be supplying 60 percent of Germany's crude oil requirements.Shortly after dawn on Aug. 1, 1943, USAAF B-24s took off

  • Pantelleria

    The capture of the islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa, lying in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Sicily, was vital to protect the flank of the planned invasion of Sicily. Geographic features made Pantelleria easily defended against an amphibious assault, so on May 18, 1943, an almost

  • Papua

    In July 1942 enemy troops on the Papuan peninsula on the northeast coast of New Guinea began an advance across the Owen Stanley Mountains against Port Moresby. Exhausted Australian ground forces, reinforced by troops flown to the scene, halted the enemy less than 30 miles from Port Moresby and then

  • Packard V-1650 Merlin

    The V-1650 liquid-cooled engine was the U.S. version of the famous British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which powered the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters during the Battle of Britain in 1940. In September 1940 the Packard Co. agreed to build the Merlin engine for both the American and the British

  • Pratt & Whitney R-2800

    This type of engine was used in the Republic P-47, rated at 2,000 hp for take-off. Many contractors built engines under license during World War II. This engine was built by Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Mich., in 1943.Click here to return to the World War II Gallery.

  • Pratt & Whitney R-985

    The R-985 air-cooled engine was first used by the Army Air Corps in 1932. At that time, it was rated at 300 horsepower. Over the next ten years, further refinements were made, and during World War II some variants produced up to 450 horsepower. The R-985 powered thousands of military aircraft of

  • Piper L-4A “Grasshopper”

    The L-4A, originally designated the O-59, was the military version of the famous Piper J3 Cub. The U.S. Army Air Forces ordered the first O-59s in 1941 for tests in conjunction with its growing interest in the use of light aircraft for liaison and observation duties in direct support of ground

  • Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Car

    On Dec. 19, 1986, the White House announced President Ronald Reagan's approval to develop a rail system for basing part of the Peacekeeper Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force. To increase survivability of this force, 50 Peacekeepers would be deployed in existing Minuteman silos and 50

  • Pan American Good Will Flight

    The MissionThe mission of the Pan American Good Will Flight of 1926-1927 was to take messages of friendship from the United States to the governments and people of Central and South America, promote U.S. commercial aviation and forge aerial navigation routes through the Americas.The MenThe Air