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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  • Sgt. 1st Class Harold O. Nicholls

    Distinguished Service Cross, 1919Sgt. Nicholls repeatedly volunteered to act as a balloon observer in the last offensive of World War I. Three times he rose up beneath a hydrogen-filled balloon only to narrowly escape after it was hit by incendiary bullets. Fortunately, Nicholls survived to accept

  • Sgt. 1st Class Fred C. Graveline

    Sergeant First Class Fred C. GravelineFirst Enlisted Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, 1919Sergeant First Class Fred C. Graveline was part of a small group of enlisted men who flew combat missions in World War I, and the first of only two enlisted men to receive the Distinguished Service

  • Sabre Pilot

    Air Force F-86 pilots wore a mix of World War II and newly-issued flight gear. This pilot has a flying suit and goggles from WWII, but he is also wearing a newer B-15 flight jacket and a post-WWII hard-shell helmet.He is equipped with an oxygen mask for the thin air at high altitude, and a "g-suit"

  • Soviet Pilots over MiG Alley

     The opening of archives in the former Soviet Union confirmed a fact that had long been denied -- the USSR provided many of the MiG-15 pilots and units that fought in MiG Alley. Like their U.S. Air Force opponents, several of these Soviet pilots were World War II combat veterans.Before the Korean

  • Strategic Bombing: New Flexibility

    "Practically all of the major military industrial targets strategically important to the enemy forces and to their war potential have been neutralized." - Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, FEAF Commander, less than two months into the Korean WarAfter destroying North Korea's industry in the first two

  • Special Operations: In the Enemy's Backyard

    "We started dropping people way up north. We would fly eight-hour missions in a C-47, dropping people all over."- Capt. (later Brig. Gen.) Harry "Heinie" AderholtDuring the Korean War, Air Force personnel conducted highly-classified special operations in enemy territory, including partisan

  • Sikorsky UH-19B Chickasaw

    The UH-19B is a U.S. Air Force version of the Sikorsky S-55, an aircraft used by all U.S. military services in the 1950s and 1960s. After the first helicopter flew in November 1949, the USAF ordered production 50 H-19As in 1951. The USAF later acquired 270 H-19Bs with increased engine power, and in

  • Sikorsky YH-5A Dragonfly

    The H-5, originally designated the R-5 ("H" for "Helicopter;" "R" for "Rotorcraft"), was designed to provide a helicopter with a greater useful load, endurance, speed and service ceiling than the earlier R-4. The first of four XR-5s made its initial flight in August 1943. In March 1944 the U.S. Army

  • Staff Sergeant Pilot Jacket

    *Artifacts from this exhibit have been temporarily removed for conservation.A-2 jacket, goggles, sergeant stripes and helmet. Jacket was issued to the donor upon his assignment to Colorado Springs Army Air Base in August 1942 following graduation as a staff sergeant pilot. Promoted to flight officer

  • Sergeant Pilot WWI-Era Uniform

    *Artifacts from this exhibit have been temporarily removed for conservation. Sergeant pilot William Beigel's World War I-era uniform trousers and coat. The enlisted pilot wing and propeller insignia is on the right sleeve. He was post sergeant-major at Rich Field in Waco, Texas, in 1919 when he