To inspire all through the limitless possibilities of flight. The Museum’s aviation and space library and archives are the largest on the West Coast.
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The independent, non-profit Museum of Flight is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, attracting more than 400,000 visitors annually. The Museum’s collection includes more than 150 historically significant air- and spacecraft, as well as the Red Barn®—the original manufacturing facility of The Boeing Co. More than 100,000 individuals are served annually by the Museum’s on-site and
outreach educational programs. The Museum of Flight is accredited by the American Associations of Museums, and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. Diversity & Inclusion Statement:
The Museum of Flight is dedicated to providing a welcoming experience for all visitors, staff, volunteers, learners, and community members. We respect, celebrate, and honor all people and the unique perspective they bring to our institution. All voices are valued and heard and all people are seen and respected. Diversity, inclusion, equity and cultural responsiveness are part of everything we do and we are committed to building an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all. For more on our inclusion initiatives please visit the link below. https://www.museumofflight.org/About-Us/D-and-I
It is never too early to plan for U.S. Navy Blue Angels Seafair Festival airshows! Museum PR Guy met up with Blue Angels Number 7 and Number 8 as they arrived at Boeing Field this afternoon. Here Number 7 Lt. Connor O'Donnell (who was once stationed at NAS Whidbey Island) says hello. See you again in the summer!
Did you know "Wrong Way" Corrigan visited The Museum of Flight? Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan earned his nickname by simply getting lost. Corrigan wanted to follow Charles Lindbergh’s achievement and fly solo across the Atlantic. He finally took his shot in 1938. Though trans-Atlantic flights are common today, in the 1920s and 30s they were extremely dangerous. In the intervening 11 years between Lindbergh’s and Corrigan’s attempts, only a handful of people made the trip successfully.
After repeated attempts in the mid-1930s to gain clearance for a trans-Atlantic flight from U.S. aviation authorities, Corrigan apparently decided to take his fate into his own hands. In July 1938 he filed a flight plan from New York to California. Corrigan took off from New York City in his Curtiss Robin and subsequently got “a little lost.” 28 hours later, his plane landed in the countryside outside Dublin. When asked how he ended up in Ireland instead of California, he claimed to have simply turned the wrong way.
In 1984, The Museum of Flight asked if Corrigan might come up and visit our Curtiss Robin to generate some buzz for the Museum. The aviator arrived in July 1984, with much fanfare. Seattle even held a parade for Corrigan that went the wrong way down one-way 5th Avenue downtown.
Did you meet Corrigan? What do you think? Should he be remembered as a folk hero or as an irresponsible pilot?
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight
Museum PR Guy believes in flying saucers. He just saw this one (E-767 AWACS) takeoff!
Zoom in! The Gossamer Albatross II is one of the most strange and amazing aircraft on display in the Museum, but have you ever looked closely at the wheels? Take a gander...do you notice a surprising logo on them?
That's right, that's a wheel from a Tonka truck, the children's construction vehicle toy. As this aircraft was powered by a bicyclist, the designers, led by Paul MacCready, prized light-weight, sturdy materials. In this case, a standard toy wheel from one of their kid's trucks fit the bill!
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight/Sean Mobley
NASA aircraft fleet at Dryden Flight Research Center circa 1988... You get to fly ONE, which are you choosing? ✈️
Image credit: Public Domain via NASA
A fun day of art and flight at the Museum today. Sunday is the last day of the Art+Flight exhibit. See you there!
FINAL WEEKEND! Our special exhibition ART+FLIGHT closes Sunday, January 7. Come see it while you can!
Get your tickets now ➡️ https://bit.ly/339SZHF
Do you know about Robert Ashby? Trained to be part of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, Lt. Col. Ashby stayed in the military following the war, flying aircraft including the PT-17, AT-6, B-25, T-6, C-46, B-26, B-47, T-33, B-45 and B-66. When he retired from the Air Force, he found that his 20 years of experience counted for nothing with civilian airlines, who refused to hire him on as a pilot because he was Black. He worked on the ground for United Airlines, living in Seattle to help prepare the airline to deploy the Boeing 747. After Marlon Green, a fellow African American pilot, won a case against Continental Airlines’ racially discriminatory hiring practices, Ashby became Frontier Airlines’ first Black pilot in 1973. He flew for the airline until 1986.
Image Description: Robert Ashby, smiling for the camera and dressed in his Frontier Airlines pilot uniform, poses in an airplane cockpit.
Image Credit: Public Domain via United States Air Force
Have you met Nort? ‘Nort’ the bird makes numerous appearances in the pilot's manual. His role was to help convey important information about the operation of the WWII-era Texan in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner to new pilot recruits. Nort is derived from the bird featured in the iconic North American Aviation logo and is introduced in the Texan pilots manual as ‘a square-shootin’ Texan with a breezy manner and a serious mind.’
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight Library
Tonight is the first Free First Thursday Evening of 2024!
On the first Thursday of each month, the Museum stays open late – and admission is FREE. Enjoy the Museum's Great Gallery, Personal Courage Wing, Simonyi Space Gallery, Aviation Pavilion, and more from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight
This year, each week we’re delving into the previous life of an aircraft on display at The Museum of Flight. We’re kicking off this series with the plane that started it all for the Museum: The Boeing Model 80. The super short version of our founding is that the Model 80 lay derelict in Alaska for years until the Pacific Northwest Aviation Historical Foundation was created in Seattle to fund its restoration and return to its home in Seattle. The PNAHF evolved into The Museum of Flight.
Here are some pictures of the Model 80 in Alaska, along with one of it being installed in the Museum’s Great Gallery many years later. The before and after are a testament to the dedication of thousands of aviation enthusiasts in our region who funded the project, and the skill of restoration workers who made the Model 80 look good as new.
Do you remember seeing the Boeing Model 80 during its restoration? What other planes would you like to see featured in this series? Let us know in the comments!
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight
From the Archives 📦
Bombardier Paul Chryst, U.S. Army Air Forces, in the Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress aircraft "Times A-Wastin'," November 2, 1944. Other aircraft are visible through the window behind Chryst.
Taken by John W. Allen of Seattle, WA, who served as a navigator on the B-17 “Times-A-Wastin” while stationed in England, images like this give a breathtaking inside view of life on a crew with a level of crystal clarity rarely seen.
After flying 35 missions over Europe, Allen moved to the Air Transport Command and served for several more months ferrying aircraft around the Pacific. Because radio silence was observed, all navigation was by celestial observation.
Explore more of the collection for free on our Digital Collection website ➡️ https://bit.ly/3WA0luX
Image Credit: The John W. Allen World War II Collection/The Museum of Flight
Tonight on KING 5 Evening the show looks at the Museum's Art+Flight exhibits! Watch the show on KING5 TV (7:30pm Seattle), and catch the exhibit before it closes Jan. 7!
If you could time travel, what airplane (either model or specific airframe) would you visit to take for a spin? Share your answers in the comments!
Hope your year's off to a better start than this guy's.
(Don't worry, it's a test dummy)
Image Description: Photograph of a test dummy during an ejection seat test, circa 1960s-1970s.
Image Credit: The George T. Zimmer Ejection Seat Testing Photographs Collection/The Museum of Flight
It's almost Free First Thursday Evening! On the first Thursday of each month, the Museum stays open late – and admission is FREE. Enjoy the Museum's Great Gallery, Personal Courage Wing, Simonyi Space Gallery, Aviation Pavilion, and more from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Image Description: A DC-3 at The Museum of Flight.
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight
The NHL Winter Classic is happening just up the road from us at T-Mobile Park today. But this footage from our archives of Alaska bush pilots in the 1940s shows that the Seattle Kraken aren't the only ones that like to have fun on the ice…
Image Credit: The Terry Buckridge Alaskan Aviation Film Collection/The Museum of Flight
Happy New Year from The Museum of Flight!
We are open for normal operating hours today, 10 AM - 5 PM. If you haven't had a chance to see our ART+FLIGHT exhibit, now's the time! It closes on January 6!
Be an armchair astronomer! Here’s a true color picture of photo of a portion of the Milky Way taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Leave a comment describing what you see. You can be as poetic or literal as you like.
Image Credit: ASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Samuel Crowe (UVA)
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is one of the most historically important airplanes ever made. But did you know its guns were remote controlled through a computer system? The Museum of Flight’s B-29 has been painstakingly restored, including the computers controlling the airplane’s turrets. As far as we know, this is the only B-29 in existence with a working computer system – and our Senior Curator Matthew Burchette is here to share a demonstration!
The restoration of “T Square 54” has taken decades and is only possible thanks to a crew of dedicated volunteers who have poured blood, sweat and tears into the project. We gratefully extend a huge thank you to the volunteers who keep this history alive.
Visit The Museum of Flight ➡️ https://museumofflight.org/
Check out The Museum of Flight's Podcast ➡️ https://museumofflight.org/podcast
Only a few days left to see our special exhibition ART+FLIGHT! The exhibit closes on January 7, 2024.
ART+FLIGHT combines our unique and diverse art scene with the rich aerospace history that the Puget Sound region is known for.
Get your tickets now ➡️ https://bit.ly/339SZHF
Image Description: The sculpture 'I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD' by Nina Vichayapai. Painted and hand-sewn fabric clouds trail multicolored streamers that are covered with with native wildflower seed paper.
Image Credit: Sean Mobley
Just another day at the office...
Some of our Education staff recently hopped across to the other side of airport to take rides with Galvin Flying. The flights gave these educators some hands-on experience that they can pass along to the thousands of students who participate in our programs every year.
Image Description: Four people stand in front of an aircraft parked at King County International Airport.
Image Credit: M.F.
Yes, that blob is a person!
This stunning 1924 photograph captured the tense moment of an aerial stunt gone wrong. Stuntwoman Rosalie Gordon was performing a parachute jump for a crowd in Houston, Texas. She jumped out of a plane piloted by Washingtonian Clyde Pangborn, but her parachute got tangled in the landing gear! The photo shows a second plane coming up below Pangborn’s to rescue Rosalie.
Notice the line in the image? Long before Photoshop, people manipulated photos. Whoever made it cut the original photo along a diagonal and repositioned the rescue plane to appear closer than it was in real life, perhaps to heighten the drama for the viewer.
While Pangborn’s adventurous life is well documented, we haven’t been able to find out much about Rosalie Gordon. If you have information on her, leave it in the comments.
Explore our Digital Collection ➡ https://bit.ly/3uK7LPc
Image Credit: The Clyde Pangborn Collection/The Museum of Flight
Image Description: A weathered black-and-white photograph showing a blot barely distinguishable as a person hanging below a biplane. A second, nearly identical plane flies close behind the first. A cut in the photograph is clearly visible running across the nose of the rear airplane.
We love a window seat. What's the coolest thing you've ever seen from an airplane? Let us know in the comments!
As 2023 comes to a close, we appreciate your financial support to ensure we start 2024 off on the right foot. Every year, our STEM education programs spark inspiration in thousands of students, helping create the next generation of aviation pioneers. Our work is only possible thanks to your support.
Make your contribution to The Museum of Flight and you will have double the impact! Thanks to the Si Robin Foundation your gift will be matched, but only until December 31.
Make your donation now ➡️ https://tmof.click/3NCo9vo
All this week we offer free 1-hour tours of the M/D-21 Blackbird. Lots of great stories about the still-incredible Blackbirds. Tours twice a day!
Sit back and relax for a minute like Museum PR Guy, and watch the King County International Airport snowplow parade. The weather is mild and rainy, with no snow in the 10-day forecast, but these crews are always ready--just in case.
The Museum of Flight celebrates The Boeing Company with FREE admission for all Boeing employees and contractors (with I.D.), plus five additional guests on Wednesday, December 27 and Thursday, December 28, 2023.
Please present your Boeing employee I.D. / Badge or Boeing Discount Program card to your Visitor Services Representative upon arrival to receive complimentary admission for yourself and up to five guests (six guests total). Offer not redeemable online. Valid for Adult, Senior or Youth general admission only. Guests must arrive with eligible employee.
Image Description: The Red Barn, the original Boeing factory, on the campus of The Museum of Flight.
Image Credit: The Museum of Flight
Artist Joe Nix was commissioned by the Museum to create a new mural for the Art+Flight project. It took Joe and his colleagues Sean Barton, Devin Liston and Tehya Sullivan about two weeks last May to paint the 60ft artwork in the Museum's Great Gallery. The painting, Assemblage, has since become a cherished addition to the gallery. While Assemblage isn't going anywhere after Art+Flight closes on Jan. 7, we'll be saying good-bye to most of the artworks. Catch them while you can!
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It is never too early to plan for U.S. Navy Blue Angels Seafair Festival airshows! Museum PR Guy met up with Blue Angels Number 7 and Number 8 as they arrived at Boeing Field this afternoon. Here Number 7 Lt. Connor O'Donnell (who was once stationed at NAS Whidbey Island) says hello. See you again in the summer!
Museum PR Guy believes in flying saucers. He just saw this one (E-767 AWACS) takeoff!
A fun day of art and flight at the Museum today. Sunday is the last day of the Art+Flight exhibit. See you there!
We’re seeing a lot of high flights in the Museum this week! We supply the materials, then you make your own helicopter and launch it from our vertical wind machines!
All this week we offer free 1-hour tours of the M/D-21 Blackbird. Lots of great stories about the still-incredible Blackbirds. Tours twice a day!
Sit back and relax for a minute like Museum PR Guy, and watch the King County International Airport snowplow parade. The weather is mild and rainy, with no snow in the 10-day forecast, but these crews are always ready--just in case.
Did the iconic spy plane, the Lockheed M/D-21, also come through the door? How did it fit? One of our Instagram followers asked, so we dove into the archives to show you how this unique aircraft got trucked from California to its spot in Seattle.
Artist Joe Nix was commissioned by the Museum to create a new mural for the Art+Flight project. It took Joe and his colleagues Sean Barton, Devin Liston and Tehya Sullivan about two weeks last May to paint the 60ft artwork in the Museum's Great Gallery. The painting, Assemblage, has since become a cherished addition to the gallery. While Assemblage isn't going anywhere after Art+Flight closes on Jan. 7, we'll be saying good-bye to most of the artworks. Catch them while you can!
The NHL Winter Classic is happening just up the road from us at T-Mobile Park today. But this footage from our archives of Alaska bush pilots in the 1940s shows that the Seattle Kraken aren't the only ones that like to have fun on the ice… Image Credit: The Terry Buckridge Alaskan Aviation Film Collection/The Museum of Flight
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is one of the most historically important airplanes ever made. But did you know its guns were remote controlled through a computer system? The Museum of Flight’s B-29 has been painstakingly restored, including the computers controlling the airplane’s turrets. As far as we know, this is the only B-29 in existence with a working computer system – and our Senior Curator Matthew Burchette is here to share a demonstration! The restoration of “T Square 54” has taken decades and is only possible thanks to a crew of dedicated volunteers who have poured blood, sweat and tears into the project. We gratefully extend a huge thank you to the volunteers who keep this history alive. Visit The Museum of Flight ➡️ https://museumofflight.org/ Check out The Museum of Flight's Podcast ➡️ https://museumofflight.org/podcast
The fog blanketing Boeing Field right now is frustrating Museum PR Guy. Well, there’s always the Connie!
Happy New Year from The Museum of Flight! We are open for normal operating hours today, 10 AM - 5 PM. If you haven't had a chance to see our ART+FLIGHT exhibit, now's the time! It closes on January 6!
120 years ago today, the Wright Brothers took to the sky in the first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flight, marking the beginning of a new era of innovation. A local troupe of talented birds proudly recreated that historic moment.
If you can boop it, you can buy it! The Museum Store is filled with great gifts for the AvGeek or space nerd in your life. Order now to make sure it's delivered by Christmas! (Sorry, offer doesn't apply to the planes) Explore our 2023 Gift Guide ➡ https://tmof.click/47CXia1
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