2017年4月6日 · Military technology has always shaped and defined how wars were fought. The First World War, however, saw a breadth and scale of technological innovation of unprecedented impact. It was the first modern mechanized industrial war in which material resources and manufacturing capability were as consequential as the skill of the troops on the battlefield.

This exhibition contrasted the popular perceptions of World War I aviation with the war's harsh reality. The gallery also reviewed the enduring legacy of strategic bombing, which was first introduced during World War I. Planes included SPAD XIII and Albatros D.Va.

Commercial Airlines initially struggled to get off the ground, but with help from the government, who awarded airlines contracts to deliver the mail, they soon began to flourish. Despite the Great Depression, air transportation experienced phenomenal growth and change from the late 1920s through the 1930s, before U.S. entry into World War II intervened.

With airplanes becoming faster and passenger numbers increasing, airlines discontinued their plush sleeper service by the 1950s. Expensive to operate, sleeper service gave way to low-fare night coach service.

The Museum's collection holds a variety of different airplanes which help tell the story of flight. Our collection of commercial aircraft, such as the well-known Boeing 747, help tell the history of America by air.

The Halberstadt CL.IV was one of the most effective ground attack aircraft of the First World War. It appeared on the Western Front towards the end of the German offensives in 1918. Flights of four to six aircraft flew close support missions, at an altitude of less than one hundred feet, suppressing enemy infantry and artillery fire just ahead of the advancing German troops. After …

The Curtiss D-III Headless Pusher resulted from an accident incurred by noted exhibition pilot, Lincoln Beachey. While flying in a competition with a standard Curtiss D-III, Beachey hit a fence upon landing and destroyed the front elevator. Rather than drop out, Beachey continued to fly without the front elevator control and found that the aircraft performed better than before. Navy …

This collection contains digital images of a Bristol Fighter F.2B, a de Havilland DH-4, and a captured Fokker D.VII in service of the Royal Air Force during World War I as well as contemporary photographs of a gunsight and altimeter of a DH-4.

2011年12月17日 · Airplane designers will tell you that the wing is the heart of an airplane. For conventional airplanes, it provides most of the lift generated by the airplane; the fuselage and tail contribute only a few percent of the overall lift of the airplane.

Facing a two-front war in Europe and the Pacific, the United States mobilized its vast human and industrial resources to achieve victory—a strategy that required the systematic use of air power. World War II became the global arena for a titanic struggle for control of the air. U.S. factories produced overwhelming numbers of fighter and bombers, and in both Europe and the Pacific, …