Exhibitions

Hawaii by Air

July 25, 2014 – August 23, 2015

National Air and Space Museum
6th St. & Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC

1st Floor, West End, Special Exhibitions, Gallery 104

See on Map Floor Plan

You may not realize it, as you while away the time on your long flight from the mainland to Hawaii, but you are traveling to one of the most remote places on Earth. Jetliner travel makes it easy to forget how challenging it once was to reach Hawaii by air. The Hawaiian Islands are mere specks in the vast Pacific. Flying there in the early days of flight was not for the faint of heart. Bad weather, a navigational error, or an engine failure could spell doom. This exhibition recounts how things have changed since then, how air travel to Hawaii developed and grew, how the travel experience evolved along with the airplane, and how air travel changed Hawaii itself.