Exhibitions

Sea-Air Operations

July 1, 1976 – January 2, 2019

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

2nd Floor, West Wing, Sea-Air Operations, Gallery 203

See on Map Floor Plan

The focus of this gallery is overwater flight, including aircraft carrier operations from 1911 to the present.

Highlights include:

  • Carrier Hangar Deck for All Times: displays major aircraft from different periods in the history of sea-air
  • Boeing F4B-4 biplane: a shipboard fighter used from 1932 to 1937
  • Douglas SBD Dauntless: the principle carrier-based bomber used throughout most of WWII
  • Grumman FM-1 Wildcat: the first-line Navy fighter and the start of WWII
  • Douglas A-4 Skyhawk: the first-line naval attack aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s
  • Re-creation of the bridge of an aircraft carrier where visitors can step aboard the USS Smithsonian to watch simulated aircraft take off and land
  • Ship's Museum presents the history of flight over water