Built at Lockheed's Burbank plant in November 1943 and used in various test and development roles during WW2 and then stored. It has never been repainted. Serial repeated under port wing leading edge.

Waiting for the ceremony to exchange it for 'Discovery"

A rare sight to see two Space Shuttles nose to nose. The occasion is the ceremony at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum at IAD to exchange the museum's Enterprise, which never flew in space, for the OV-103 Discovery which flew more missions than any other Shuttle. It's interesting to compare the pristine appearance of the Enterprise to the post re-entry wear on the Discovery.

Seen at the ceremony to exchange Discovery for Enterprise at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy museum at IAD. Discovery is now displayed there just as it appeared after its last flight.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. Named after a sailing ship that had pioneered scientific research, Discovery flew its first mission in 1984 and last in 2011 for a total of 39 spaceflights, more than any other Space Shuttle or spacecraft. It spent 365 days in space and clocked more than 238 million km. Reinforced carbon-carbon on the nose cone differs in color with the tessellation of 30,757 silica tiles forming the heat shield.

The 1912 Gage biplane in the NASM collection is referred to as the Fowler-Gage, in recognition of its owner and pilot, Robert G. Fowler. Beginning in October 1912, Fowler made numerous exhibition and passenger flights in California. He made his most famous flight in the airplane in 1913, flying ocean-to-ocean across Panama. With the Gage now on floats, Fowler started his Isthmus of Panama crossing with a takeoff from the Pacific side at 9:45 a.m. on April 27. Nevertheless, he completed the 83 km (52 mi) flight in one hour and 45 minutes. Full details: http://www.aviation-history.com/garber/vg

In 1919, the H.& M. Farman Aeroplane Company of France produced the Farman Sport two-place sport and light commercial biplane. In 1922, C.T. Ludington and Wallace Kellett of Philadephia, Pennsylvania imported their first two Sports. Their pilot flew this aircraft, serial number 15, C-72, in the 1924 "On to Dayton Race". After suffering severe damage in 1928, NC-72's airworthiness certificate was revoked luntil Ken Hyde of Warrenton, Virginia, restored it. C.T. Ludington himself identified the aircraft, allowing Hyde to reclaim the NC-72 registration. This is the last remaining Farman Sport.

"Plane Jane" was a Fleet designed for civilian pilot training. This model is painted in the colors of Roosevelt Aviation School, Long Island, New York. The aircraft was used in the Civilian Pilot Training Program to instruct potential military pilots prior to and during World War II.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum.

On display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. This Aerobat belonged to William K. Kershner, a highly respected instructor who authored five manuals on primary, advanced, aerobatic, instructor and instrument flying. It was used as a test bed for Kershner's spin studies, for which he performed over 7,000 spins.

On display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Helldivers were the last dive-bombers in the U.S. Navy. This Helldiver never saw combat, having reached Guam before the war ended. It was assigned to VB-92 "Battling Beasts" aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) from Sept. to Dec. 1945. By Jan. 1946 the Helldiver was back in the USA, and after rotating through different squadrons was marked for preservation in 1948. It has been restored as a VB-92 aircraft, aided by surviving members of the squadron.

Experimental Autogiro on display in the Vertical Flight exhibition at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. These series of Autogiros were difficult to handle, leading to several accidents. The USAAF abandoned the Autogiro in favor of the more reliable Sikorsky helicopter.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. The Ju-52 was used all over Europe and became the flagship for Deutsche Lufthansa, which bought them by the dozen. It could carry 17 passengers or three tons of freight. Most of Lufthansa's fleet was requisitioned during World War II. Despite the desperate situation, Lufthansa continued flying till the end of the war, operating Ju-52/3m D-AFFF into Flensburg on 5 May 1945.

"Enola Gay" of the 509th Composite Group on display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. On Aug. 5, 1945 Col. Paul W. Tibbets ordered the name of his mother painted on at Tinian. On Aug. 6 at 8:15 a.m. she dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima and later flew on Op. Crossroads. Due to deterioration from storage outdoors, restoration by NASM lasted almost two decades. As part of the Silverplate conversion to save weight, the nose section is devoid of the upper gun turret.

On display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. The FB-5 was Boeing's first true carrier-borne fighter. This model saw service with VF-1 on USS Langley, VF-6B aboard USS Saratoga, VF-3B at San Diego and finally with Marine squadron VF-6M 'Red Devils'. Restoration of the aircraft was done by the USMC.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, NASM. This ex-RCAF Lysander with s/n 2346 was sold to a private owner in Canada, then the USA, eventually reaching NASM. She carries the later code 'AC-B' of No. 138 (Special Duties) Sqn. RAF which flew an assortment of aircraft. During 1941-42, No. 138 (SD) Sqn. used the code 'NF' and such a Lysander would have a ladder fixed to the fuselage and carried a 150 gal. fuel tank to drop off and collect agents in France.

On display at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum. Intended to be an aerial "Model T" that could also be driven on the road, the price tag of $ 12,500 was too high for the average family. Only one AC-35 was built.