The Boeing FB-5 Hawk is a US Navy fighter plane from the 1920s (a hundred years ago!). It served on the USS Langley and the USS Saratoga, early aircraft carriers.
From early aviation history is the Nieuport 28C.1, a single-engine biplane from 1917 that the French sold to the Americans because they wanted something better during World War I. That didn't stop the USA from using the planes both in the military (they were used by the Navy in the first attempts to launch a plane from a ship, so before the Boeing above) and the private sector (Hollywood got a hold of some and used them in films).
The Langley Aerodrome A looks like something cribbed from Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks. Stephen Langley's early attempt (1903) to build a human-size aircraft was based on much smaller models that worked and he thought he could just scale up the size. The result was a disaster that would not take off.
Probably the most famous airplane in this exhibit is the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the bomber that was used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.
A lot of "stunt" planes are on display and posed in very acrobatic poses. In the back of this picture is the Concorde, the first supersonic passenger plane put in service. A collaboration of Aerospatiale of France and British Aircraft Corporation, it began service in the late 1970s, crossing the Atlantic in under four hours. The high speed was valuable to some customers but also very costly, making it economically difficult to keep going. Concordes eventually stopped transatlantic flights in the early 2000s (so still a long run).
One of the extra parts of the center is the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, where many planes are refurbished and cleaned up for display here and at the downtown museum. My daughter was especially interested since they have machine shops and other tools a crafty person would love to use.
The Space Hangar is dominated by the Space Shuttle Discovery, one of the fleet of American spacecraft that was the backbone of NASA activity from 1981 to the last flight in 2011. This was the last shuttle to fly and had the longest flight record, with 39 mission and over 150 million miles traveled.
Toward the back is a display of various satellites from various countries.
One item that caught my eye was the Mobile Quarantine Facility. Four of these were built for the Apollo program, specifically to quarantine astronauts returning from the Moon in case they brought back "lunar pathogens." Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were "in residence" for 60 hours while NASA made sure they brought back nothing harmful for the rest of the Earth.
Back in the Aviation Hangar, we saw the Wisk Gen 3 prototype of a eVTOL, or Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft. It's a prototype only there for a little while.
The only plane in the whole museum that visitors are allowed to touch is a Cessna 172. Two volunteers help visitors get in and out of the vehicle. They also provide information about the plane, a popular personal aircraft. We were amazed that it had back seat, especially since there seemed to be no leg room. The guys explained that usually the seats are taken out and owners use the back for cargo.
Our kids also tried out a flight simulator which rotated them 360 degrees horizontally. They were supposed to be piloting, so maybe it was their fault? We parents were glad to be outside and, shamefully, enjoyed hearing their shouts of dismay as their simulated flight flipped.
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| Boeing FB-5 Hawk |
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| Interacting with a display |
From early aviation history is the Nieuport 28C.1, a single-engine biplane from 1917 that the French sold to the Americans because they wanted something better during World War I. That didn't stop the USA from using the planes both in the military (they were used by the Navy in the first attempts to launch a plane from a ship, so before the Boeing above) and the private sector (Hollywood got a hold of some and used them in films).
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| Nieuport 28C.1 |
The Langley Aerodrome A looks like something cribbed from Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks. Stephen Langley's early attempt (1903) to build a human-size aircraft was based on much smaller models that worked and he thought he could just scale up the size. The result was a disaster that would not take off.
 |
| Aerodrome A |
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| Front view |
Probably the most famous airplane in this exhibit is the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the bomber that was used to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945.
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| The Enola Gay |
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| Cockpit of the Enola Gay |
A lot of "stunt" planes are on display and posed in very acrobatic poses. In the back of this picture is the Concorde, the first supersonic passenger plane put in service. A collaboration of Aerospatiale of France and British Aircraft Corporation, it began service in the late 1970s, crossing the Atlantic in under four hours. The high speed was valuable to some customers but also very costly, making it economically difficult to keep going. Concordes eventually stopped transatlantic flights in the early 2000s (so still a long run).
 |
| Fun planes and fast plane |
One of the extra parts of the center is the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, where many planes are refurbished and cleaned up for display here and at the downtown museum. My daughter was especially interested since they have machine shops and other tools a crafty person would love to use.
 |
| Restoration in progress! |
The Space Hangar is dominated by the Space Shuttle Discovery, one of the fleet of American spacecraft that was the backbone of NASA activity from 1981 to the last flight in 2011. This was the last shuttle to fly and had the longest flight record, with 39 mission and over 150 million miles traveled.
 |
| Space Shuttle Discovery |
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| Back of the shuttle |
Toward the back is a display of various satellites from various countries.
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| Too many to name! |
One item that caught my eye was the Mobile Quarantine Facility. Four of these were built for the Apollo program, specifically to quarantine astronauts returning from the Moon in case they brought back "lunar pathogens." Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were "in residence" for 60 hours while NASA made sure they brought back nothing harmful for the rest of the Earth.
 |
| Mobile Quarantine Facility |
Back in the Aviation Hangar, we saw the Wisk Gen 3 prototype of a eVTOL, or Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft. It's a prototype only there for a little while.
 |
| Electric air vehicle! |
The only plane in the whole museum that visitors are allowed to touch is a Cessna 172. Two volunteers help visitors get in and out of the vehicle. They also provide information about the plane, a popular personal aircraft. We were amazed that it had back seat, especially since there seemed to be no leg room. The guys explained that usually the seats are taken out and owners use the back for cargo.
 |
| Trying out a Cessna |
Our kids also tried out a flight simulator which rotated them 360 degrees horizontally. They were supposed to be piloting, so maybe it was their fault? We parents were glad to be outside and, shamefully, enjoyed hearing their shouts of dismay as their simulated flight flipped.
The last plane we saw was the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a stealth plane used starting in the 1970s as a supersonic reconnaissance plane. This particular plane served for 24 years in the United States Air Force and was delivered to the Smithsonian in 1990 after breaking a speed record flying from Los Angeles to Washington in a little over an hour.
The final part of our visit was to the Observation Tower. Seven stories up, visitors can see planes landing and taking off from the nearby Dulles International Airport.
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| Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird |
The final part of our visit was to the Observation Tower. Seven stories up, visitors can see planes landing and taking off from the nearby Dulles International Airport.
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| A plane headed to the airport |
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| Entrance and parking lot |
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| Dulles Airport |
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| The roof still had a lot of snow in early February 2026 |
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