Self-Guided Walking Tour - United States Navy

“Where Education Becomes Fun”Self-Guided Walking TourThis guide is designed to assist educators, parents and group leadersin maximizing the National Naval Aviation Museum’s educationalresources.

Virtual Tour or Self Guided TourThe Virtual Tour takes online visitors throughout the facility, giving them awindow to the aircraft and exhibits displayed in honor of the achievements andsacrifices made over a century of Naval Aviation. Visit this link its-and-collections/virtualtour or you can download our Self Guided Walking Tour for your group.But by reviewing this guide prior to arrival, you will be able to select or suggestthe exhibits that will not only fit into your allotted visit time, but also correspondwith the educational level of your students and their interests. This guide alsoserves as a tool for classroom review once before and after the students areback at school or home.Exhibits located on the First Floor of the Museum*Each exhibit is link back to our website for further discussion. Before you beginyour tour through the Museum, please be sure to pick up a Museum Map at theinformation desk located to the right of the main entrance.

The World War I exhibit is divided intofour distinct dioramas, including aseaplane as it would have appeared onthe shores of Naval Air Station(NAS) Pensacola, Florida, and an airfieldscene somewhere in Franceshowing a battle-scarred building thatserves as a makeshift home forcombat pilots complete with wartimemusic and a flickering flame in a potbelly stove. A machine gun nest guards amuddy airstrip on which a biplanesits ready to launch on a mission. Thisdiorama also includes a periodambulance poised to take woundedairmen to a field hospital.

Squadron PatchesDuring World War I, the pilots that engaged indogfights over the Western Front came to be calledthe Knights of the Air. Thus, it is fitting thatthroughout aviation history squadrons have adoptedinsignias as veritable coats of arms, capturing theesprit of airmen that wage war in the air to this day.Colorfully adorned with unit insignias, this exhibitdisplays hundreds of squadron, ship and stationpatches collected by the Museum through the years.NC-4 Flying BoatThe NC (NAVY-CURTISS) Aircraft was designed duringWorld War I as an antisubmarine aircraft. With awingspan of 126 feet and powered by four Libertyengines, the U.S. launched the aircraft displayed hereon May 8,1919. A tangible symbol of historicdevelopments in aviation, the NC-4flying boatcompleted the historic 3,000-mile trip from Naval AirStation Rockaway Beach, New York to Lisbon, Portugalin 19 days. Finishing its journey on May 27, 1919, theNC-4 became the first aircraft to cross the AtlanticOcean.

NC-4 Flying BoatComplementing the display of the famous NC-4flying boat is an exhibit telling its brief, but eventful,career. The exhibit, built to look like the interior of awooden hangar from the era in which the NC-4operated, tells the story of its construction,transatlantic flight, recruiting tour of theSoutheastern United States, and eventualrestoration by the Smithsonian National Air andSpace Museum. Included are artifacts from membersof the crew.PBY-5 Catalina CutawayThis aircraft is the only one of its kind known to exist.During WorldWar II, Catalinas performed a variety ofessential duties, including long-range scouting andanti-submarine patrols, convoy escorts, search andrescue and bombing operations. It was in the latterfunctions that the PBY established its greatest legacy,equipping so-called Black Cat squadrons that carriedout effective night attacks against Japanese shippingand installations.

PBY-5 Catalina Two other PBY squadrons were equipped withmagnetic anomaly detection gear in order tolocate submerged submarines. Retro-bombswere also installed which, when fired backwardsat a velocity equal to the speed of the aircraft,dropped straight down upon a target.USS CabotCommissioned July 24, 1943, the USS Cabot(nicknamed the “Iron Woman”) was one of thelight carriers to serve in the Pacific duringWorld War II. During the 16 months spent inthe combat zone, she steamed 133,880nautical miles and launched 116 strikes againstthe enemy. Viewing the World War II aircraftdisplayed on her deck, one gains anappreciation for the limited size of a lightaircraft carrier flight deck. This exhibit alsoincludes a 40mm anti-aircraft gun from theUSS Cabot; climb in, take aim and defend theship!

Sunken TreasuresThe centerpieces of the museum's Sunken Treasuresexhibit are two aircraft resurrected from LakeMichigan that have been preserved in the conditionin which they were found. This F4F Wildcat, likemany of the aircraft recovered, was remarkably wellpreserved in the cold, freshwater environment.Like all of the aircraft recovered by the museumfrom Lake Michigan, this SBD Dauntless displayed inthe Sunken Treasures exhibit has a story. It spentmost of its operational career flying from Naval AirStation (NAS) Norfolk, Virginia, before being used forcarrier qualification. Flown by Ensign Charles C.Witkowski, it experienced engine failure on a 24August 1944, launch from the training carrier Sable.The pilot made a water landing and was rescued.

Home Front U.S.A.The centerpiece of the museum's Home FrontU.S.A. exhibit is the recreation of a typical MainStreet scene as it would have appeared in most anysmall town during World War II. A Marine home onleave gets a shoe sign outside a barber shop, thewindow of the local drugstore next to him proudlydisplaying photographs of the town's young menand women serving in the armed forces. Down thestreet, a pawn shop beckons shoppers in an era inwhich rationing was the norm.Period signs advertising everything from cigars tosoft drinks adorn the exterior wall of a country storeand gas station. Inside, museum volunteers whogrew up during the war years describe the pointsystem and use of ration stamps that governed thepurchase of food and other products during WorldWar II. More than half of U.S. drivers during the warwere issued "A" stickers for their cars, limiting themto four gallons of gas per week from pumps like thatdisplayed in the exhibit.

Space“One giant leap for mankind.” Walk with theastronauts in America’s final frontier and relivethe first lunar landing on July 20, 1969. See theApollo command module, Skylab 2, thatcarried an all-Navy crew to the earth orbitingSkylab.The Motion-Based Simulator RideThe fully enclosed capsule, whichaccommodates up to 15 passengers, canmove in six directions, allowing you toexperience horizontal rolls, longitudinalpitches and vertical climb featured are twopulse pounding rides, Desert Storm and FlyWith The Blues! The ride provides eachstudent with a fun experience in what it islike to fly in a Blue Angel aircraft.

Pacific Island ExhibitAn F4F Wildcat recovered from Lake Michigan isan authentic wartime centerpiece for themuseum's exhibit that recreates the environmentof a jungle airfield in the World War II PacificTheater. Note the cactus painted on the cowlingof the aircraft, which commemorates thenickname of the aircraft and personnel that flewfrom Henderson Field on Guadalcanal during1942-1943. With the island's codename "Cactus,"they were called the "Cactus Air Force."Once airfields became operational and enemyresistance on the islands on which they werelocated ceased, it did not take long for personnel toestablish a haven for their off-duty hours. Rusticbars like "One-Eyed Jack's" in the Pacific IslandExhibit featured the standard pin-ups of starletsback home. "Torpedo-juice" made from alcoholremoved from torpedoes coupled with liquorobtained on leave or in trades with aircraft crewsthat delivered supplies to the airfield keptpersonnel fortified.

Although impossible to recreate the heat, humidity,insects, and danger from enemy attack that was partof everyday life at airfields all across the Pacificduring World War II, the rustic shower gives visitorsa sense of a life out of the ordinary. The ruleslimiting water usage reveals that showers were aluxury rather than an everyday occurrence in thecombat zone. Note the sign behind the shower,which displays distances to points around the world,the most important one being to Tokyo, the capitalof Japan, at which the bomb atop the sign isthumbing its nose.World War II Aircraft Carrier ExhibitWith the maze of pipes overhead providing thelook of a real ship, the ready room in theWorld War II Aircraft Carrier Exhibit capturesthe environment of the space that for pilotsand aircrewmen was a haven on boardship. Here, in the stuffed chairs, they satanxiously receiving preflight briefings prior tolaunching on combat missions.

World War II Aircraft Carrier ExhibitOn board wartime carriers, doctors andpharmacist's mates, the latter's workspacedepicted in the exhibit complete with originalbottles from the carrier Hornet (CV 12), cared forthousands on a variety of levels. The routine oftreating common maladies could be transformedin moments by a propeller blade slicing into theshoulder of a sailor on the flight deck orwounded air crewmen returning from a mission.A common word heard on board naval vessels is"gedunk," which is the term given to ice cream,candy, and other snack foods served aboard ship.It also refers to the ship's store in which they aresold. In assembling the gedunk in the World War IIAircraft Carrier Exhibit, the museum contactedcompanies around the country to obtain examplesof product labels from the World War II timeframe, the result an authentic look for theshipboard equivalent of the corner drugstore.

Views of Lighter Than Air ExhibitFrom this cockpit removed from the control car of theZPG-2 airship "Snow Bird," Commander Jack R. Huntcommanded a crew that flew into history during March1957. Launching from Naval Air Station (NAS) SouthWeymouth, Massachusetts, the airship made twocrossings of the Atlantic before touching down at NASKey West, Florida. All told, "Snow Bird" spent just overeleven days aloft in covering 9,448 miles withoutrefueling. For his performance on the flight, Huntreceived the Harmon International Trophy forAeronauts.Side view of the forward section of the famed ZPG-2"Snow Bird" showing the insignia and nickname. InMarch 1957 the airship completed a record-setting9,448-mile flight without refueling during which itremained airborne for just over eleven days

Welcome to Hangar Bay OneThe newest addition to the National NavalAviation Museum, Hangar Bay One, adds55,000 square feet of exhibit space to afacility that is already one of the largest of itskind in the world. Its façade reminiscent ofhangars of old, the new structure primarilydisplays aircraft from the museum collectionthat flew during the post-World War II era.Among them is the R4D5L Skytrain nicknamed “Que Sera Sera” thatin 1956, became the first aircraft to land atthe South Pole as well as the P2V1 Neptune nicknamed the “Truculent Turtle”that in 1946, established a long-distancerecord during a flight between Perth,Australia and Columbus, Ohio. Inaddition, Hangar Bay One is now home to themuseum’s collection of U.S. Coast Guardaircraft, with a revised exhibit devoted tothat service scheduled to open in the hangarin the future.

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