Delivered to the USN in February 1948 but transferred to the USMC's VMF-122 at Cherry Point. Damaged in a group loop in September 1948 and crashed twice in 1949, being struck off later that year. Civilianised by Progressive Aero as N4284A (1958?) and owned for a time by National Jets Inc, then Sensormatic Electronics, both in Fort Lauderdale. Joined the National Aviation Museum in 1983

Put into service in the closing stages of WWII, this FG-1D flew primarily with the US Navy Reserve until struck off in 1957. Registered N8050E in 1963, it changed to N766JD in 1969 and joined the National Aviation Museum (as it was then named) in 1977

The prototype of the Neptune, the XP2V-1, made its maiden flight in May 1945 and in Sept/Oct 1946, the early aircraft seen here made a record-breaking flight from Perth to the USA. Intended originally to reach Washington DC, the crew had to settle for Columbus, OH having covered some 11,236 miles over a period of 55h 17m. It then flew with the Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River until 1953 when presented to the Smithsonian Institution, going on display at NAS Norfolk, VA where I got to photograph it in 1975. Loaned to the Pensacola museum in 1977 and delivered by barge

The F7F-3 was a single-seat fighter-bomber Tigercat variant of which 189 were built out of a total of 364 for the type between 1943 and 1946. BuNo 80373 was taken up by the USMC in March 1945 and operated with VMF-911 at MCAS Cherry Point till 1948. In 1963 it was registered N7654C as a fire service aircraft, used to tackle bush fires until the 1970s. In September 1980 it was flown to Pensacola for the museum

Another USAAF trainer posing as a Navy variant. This is actually a BT-13A serialled 41-11355 that was sold after post-war storage as N60828 in the mid-1950s. When placed on display after acquisition in 1982 it was marked to represent a Navy SNV-1, of which some 2,000 were supplied to the USN between 1941 and 1944. Like the PT-22 in the museum, the serial is a fake derivation from its civil registration

The fake serial on this PT-22 is derived from its registration, N49086. It is actually an ex USAAF trainer, 41-15512, civilianised after WWII. It suffered at least four serious accidents during its military and civil career. The Navy version which this aircraft displayed since 1982 represents is the NR-1 Recruit, of which 100 were procured during the war

The N1K2-J was a land-based derivative of a floatplane design by Kawanishi, entering service in early 1944 and proving to be one of the best dogfighting aircraft produced by either side. This example was flown by the elite 343 Kōkūtai naval fighter unit and was shipped to the US in November 1945 and assigned evaluation identity FE-306, later T2-306. One of four surviving, it was placed in storage at NAS Norfolk in 1947, going on show at the New England Air Museum in 1974 and moving to Pensacola in 1992

Some 584 J2Fs were built from introduction in 1936, but this one was not delivered until 1945. After service at several different stations on the East Coast, it was transferred to NAS Norfolk for storage in 1948. In 1969 it went on show at the USMC museum at Quantico, VA, moving to Pensacola in 1974

From acceptance in 1944 this Helldiver flew with VB-84 and then VB-14/USS Wasp but in May 1945 ditched in Otay Lake, CA after engine failure. The crew were saved but it was not until 2010 that the wreckage was recovered. The major restoration project has only recently been completed

After serving as a regular USN transport from 1943, BuNo 12418 was transferred to VX-6, NAS Patuxent River in 1955 and converted next year to R4D-5L for use in Antarctica. On 31st October 1956, it made the first ever landing at the South Pole, the crew of seven becoming the first humans there since the Royal Navy's Captain Scott reached the pole in 1912. Qué Será Será was presented to the Smithsonian Institute in 1958 and placed in store at its Silver Hill facility. In 1974 it was loaned to the Naval Aviation Museum but was damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Restored for display inside by 2011

The USN purchased a total of 360 Beech D-17s from 1937, 18 of them designated as GB-1s and 342 GB-2s powered by an uprated P&W R-985-50 engine. Named "Traveller," the GB-2 served as both a liaison aircraft and as a transport to take ferry pilots to aircraft factories around the US for pick up and delivery of new aircraft for the fleet

Painted as a USN FF-1 of VF-5B "Red Rippers", this is actually a G-23 supplied in 1942 as one of the first aircraft for the Fuerza Aerea de Nicaragua. It only saw limited use before being left to languish in a scrap area at Zololtan airfield. In 1961 an Oklahoma spray plane pilot hired to work in Nicaragua discovered the G-23 and arranged to buy it for $150, restoring it flying condition by 1966 when he flew it to the Grumman factory at Bethpage, Long Island as N2803J where it was restored and flown to Pensacola the following year after appearances on the airshow circuit.

Built by Curtiss-Wright at Buffalo, NY and taken into service with the USN in April 1933, this BFC-2 dive bomber's first assignment was to Battle Force (Pacific Fleet) at North Island. In July 1933, it was assigned to VF-1B. It is displayed as it later operated with Bombing Squadron 2B (VB-2B) on the USS Langley, Lexington and Saratoga from 1934 to 1938. The squadron is the oldest active Navy unit, now operating as VFA-14 "Tophatters" with the F/A-18E, while the name Goshawk also lives on in the form of the McDonnell Douglas T-45, many of which are locally based

This aircraft never served the USN and is in fact USAAC P-12 32-096, assigned to the 73rd Pursuit Sqdn at March Field, CA, later transferring to the 95th PS. Damaged and repaired three times after landing accidents, around 1941 it was sold as NC7037U. Arriving at the navy museum in 1993, it was painted to represent F4B-4 BuNo A9029 "Felix the Cat" of VF-6 on the USS Saratoga from 1932 to 1936

This is the last surviving Coronado, one of 210 built. Originally a PB2Y-3, it served VR-4 as a transport after conversion to PB2Y-3R with faired-over turrets. Further conversions to PB2Y-5R and PB2Y-5Z saw it fitted out with a VIP interior, flying the deputy and staff of Admiral Nimitz to Tokyo for Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945. Registered N69003 post-war, Howard Hughes used it in preparing to fly his HK-1 flying boat, remaining airworthy until the 1960s. By 1975 it was on display at a Spruce Goose memorial at Long Beach and in 1977 was barged through the Panama Canal to Pensacola

The SNC Falcon was an all-metal trainer derived from a light fighter design, the Curtiss CW-22. A total of 305 were built, this example only serving the Navy between 1942 and 1944. It was registered N8021J by 1956 and arrived at the museum in 1984

Displayed in its early USN colours, this Wildcat was taken on charge in June 1941 and assigned to VF-72 as NAS Norfolk with a short period on loan to FAA 892 Sqdn in mid-1942. The F4F-3 was the first version of the Wildcat to be produced in quantity for the Navy and unlike later models, did not have folding wings. In 1943 it was allocated to the Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) at NAS Glenview, IL and was yet another aircraft lost in Lake Michigan when it ditched during at attempted take-off from USS Wolverine in August that year, lying in the depths till recovery in 1991

The OS2U was widely used during WWII for scouting and rescue duties. Launched by ship's catapult, they were recovered using a sea sled towed just below the surface. The aircraft would land in the wake, taxi to the sled and engage it with a hook on the bottom of the float before being craned aboard. This one was allocated BuNo 5926 but supplied in 1942 under Lend-Lease to the Armada Nacional del Uruguay with serial A-752. It was returned for preservation at Pensacola in 1971 and carries spurious serial 07534, in fact allocated to a Stearman

Built in 1939, this was the last SB2U-2 to be constructed and is now also the only surviving example of the Vindicator carrier dive-bomber. The type remained in service at the time of the Battle of Midway, but by 1943 all had been withdrawn to training units. While assigned to USS Wolverine, in June 1943 it crashed into Lake Michigan after a landing accident, the pilot being rescued after the aircraft slid off the carrier's deck. It was recovered in 1990 and after restoration was marked as an aircraft of USS Essex

In April 1941 this F4F-3A was on the strength of VF-7 aboard USS Wasp as part of the Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic before the United States entered WWII. By 1943 it had been assigned to training carrier USS Sable and became yet another casualty swallowed by the waves of Lake Michigan after an accident flying off USS Sable. Recovered by 1987. There must be half a dozen exhibits in the NMNA that were recovered from the depths of Lake Michigan, in fact over 200 aircraft are reckoned to have crashed in the Great Lakes during the war