This Invader is now painted to represent a night intruder used during the Korean War by the 34th BS. My 1973 photo here

Based on existing Cierva and Pitcairn designs, in 1931 this was the first autogiro tested by the Army Air Corps at Wright Field for a possible role as a slow flying machine to observe enemy forces and control artillery fire, but it was found to have unsuitable performance

This Cessna was retired by the Civil Air Patrol in 2024 having operated it since 1986. It was the only civilian aircraft authorised to fly in and around New York City on 12 September 2001 after the 9/11 terror attacks when the airspace was otherwise closed to civil traffic, performing aerial photography of the area surrounding the destroyed World Trade Center. In March 2024 it arrived at the NMUSAF and has been put on display in the Cold War gallery

The versatile L-1 performed a variety of missions both in the US and overseas during WWII and was well suited for operations from short fields. Its duties included towing training gliders, artillery spotting, liaison, rescue, supply transport, espionage behind Japanese lines and even dropping light bombs. This one was civilianised as N66648 after the war, later changing N63229 and N4782C. It was donated to the museum in 1973 by the widow of its owner in Alaska and placed on display in 1979

The B-29 which (in)famously dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on 9th August 1945, three days after the first dropped by "Enola Gay" on Hiroshima. Flown to the USAFM in September 1961 after storage at Davis Monthan

In November 1942 this MC-200 was damaged while landing at Benghazi K-3 airfield in Libya and was captured by British forces during the Axis retreat after the battle of El Alamein. In early 1943 it was shipped to the USA and used for tours around the country to raise War Bonds. It became derelict postwar but in 1965 went to the Bradley Air Museum, Windsor Locks, CT. From December 1989 the Aermacchi factory at Verese in Italy restored it for the USAFM and was flown as airfreight to Wright Patterson in October 1992. It is finished in the Regia Aeronautica markings as found when captured

This is a replica built in 1966/67 by the Royal Canadian Air Forces Aircraft Maintenance and Development Unit using original parts including a 110hp Le Rhone J rotary engine. It was given the registration G-CYEI and was painted to represent one of 52 Avro 504K aerobatic trainers used at the American Expeditionary Force No. 3 Instruction Center, Issoudun, France, in 1918. The type was the first introduction to flying for many USAAS pilots and continued in use after WWI

The Valiant, known as the the "Vibrator" by the pilots who flew it, was the basic trainer most widely used by the USAAF during WWII, representing the second of the three stages of pilot training - primary, basic and advanced. In all some 10,375 P&W engined BT-13s and Wright-engined BT-15s were built. This one was registered N62645 postwar and was obtained by the museum in 1965

Built as a Bf-109G-6 in 1942, this aircraft is recorded as serving the Bulgarian AF as 610824 then the Yugoslav AF as 9964 before remanufacture as a Bf-109G-14/U4 in Vienna in 1944. Operating as 'Black 2' with II./JG52 in 1945, it was captured at Neubiberg in May and shipped to the US as FE-124 then T2-124. Moved to Freeman Filed, IN in 1946, it was used for displays. In the late 1960s restoration began in California with the wings of a Czech Avia S-199. Transferred to the UK then Evergreen at McMinnville, OR, in 1990 it was registered as N109MS and converted to Bf-109G-10 spec. Loaned in 1999

Probably built at Focke-Wulf's Bernberg plant in 1944, this long-nose Fw-190 was operated on bomber intercepts in the late stages of WWII by Udet Gerschwader, IV (Sturm)/JG 3. It was surrendered to the RAF at Flensburg and was shipped to here at Wright Field in June 1945 for testing using the serial FE-120 (FE=Foreign Evaluation) then T2-120 (T2=Office of Air Force Intelligence). In 1960 it was taken into the care of the Smithsonian/National Air Museum, Washington, DC and went on loan to the USAFM by 1975

The Hadrian was the most widely used US troop/cargo glider of WWII and featured an upward-hinged nose section through which 13 equipped troops, a jeep, a quarter-ton truck or a 75mm howitzer could be loaded

Of a total of 273 Twin Mustangs produced, 20 were F-82Bs. The example on display at the NMUSAF flew from Hawaii to New York in February 1947 over a distance of 5,051 miles, the longest non-stop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter. In 1950 it was transferred to the NACA Lewis Research Centre in Cleveland for use in ram-jet tests, then coming to the museum in 1957

This really is 52-1066. Chateauroux to Athens and was forced down by Yugoslavia Air Force fighters. Plane and crew were held until after some diplomatic negotiations when they were released to return to Chateauroux. 19 Sep '74: Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, for storage. 27 Aug '75: Flown to the Air Force Museum. It is displayed as 51-135 of 756th Military Airlift Squadron/909th Military Airlift Group (Andrews AFB).

This really is 52-1066. Chateauroux to Athens and was forced down by Yugoslavia Air Force fighters. Plane and crew were held until after some diplomatic negotiations when they were released to return to Chateauroux. 19 Sep '74: Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, for storage. 27 Aug '75: Flown to the Air Force Museum. It is displayed as 51-135 of 756th Military Airlift Squadron/909th Military Airlift Group (Andrews AFB).

On display in the World War II Gallery at NMUSAF. The USAAF operated the Mosquito as a photographic and weather reconnaissance aircraft, nightfighter and for Red Stocking intelligence gathering missions. This Mosquito with a red tail is painted to represent a PR.XVI of the 653rd BS based in England in 1944-45 that conducted Blue Stocking weather recce missions. Built in 1946 and taken on charge by the RAF with s/n RS709, it was converted to a TT.35 by 1959, going to No. 3 Civil AA Cooperation Unit. In 1963 it got a civil Regn and featured in the movies 633 Squadron and Mosquito Squadron.

The Sikorsky-designed R-6A two-seat observation helicopter evolved from the boxy R-4, the first Air Force helicopter to serve in a combat zone (example here). Although Sikorsky built the first six for testing, another 219 were constructed under licence by Nash-Kelvinator, this being one of them. Accepted by USAAF at Detroit in April 1945, it operated with various training units in Texas till declared excess in March 1949. Acquired by the museum in 1986

Showing a considerable advancement from its earlier designs, Sikorsky's H-5 helicopter gained its greatest fame during the Korean War when it was called upon repeatedly to rescue pilots shot down behind enemy lines and to evacuate wounded personnel from frontline areas. More than 300 were built, with this one being ferried form Elgin AFB, FL to Patterson Field for the USAFM in March 1955

First flown in January 1942, the R-4 holds the honour of being the world's first helicopter to go into production and the first to see combat, despite being difficult to fly and suffering from excessive vibration. This one (of 131 built) was obtained from the University of Illinois in 1967

This L-2M is actually 43-26592, built in 1944 by the Taylorcraft Airplane Co in Alliance, OH. The USAAF used it for liaison pilot training at the McFarland Flying Service Contract Pilot School, Atkinson Municipal Airport in Pittsburg, KS. This only lasted for four months before it went into storage and was declared surplus. After many changes of ownership, a project to restore it was found in a garage in the Central Valley of California in 2012. From 2009 to 2011 it toured many airshows across the US; to NMUSAF Sep 2011. Now painted to represent another L-2M flown at Atkinson during the war

This T-6D flew as an early 'Mosquito' FAC aircraft with the 6147th Tactical Air Control Group during the first two years of the Korean War. Ironically, it was converted to a mosquito spraying aircraft in 1952. Two years later, the USAF transferred it to the nascent Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF). The ROKAF placed it on display outside for several years after retiring it. The USAFM acquired it in 1995 and after restoration it went on display in 2001 and can now be seen in the Korean War Gallery