This is in fact F-100C 54-1986 which has been marked to represent the aircraft of Major 'Bud' Day, who was awarded a Medal of Honor after being shot down and taken POW in Vietnam while flying a 'Misty' FAC mission in August 1967. Two-seat F-100Fs were used for Misty missions and on that occasion Day was flying 56-3954 of 416 TFS/37 TFW. Whether the preserved F-100C is meant to represent that aircraft or Day, who was previously with 31 TFW, also flew F-100C 54-1954 as shown here is unclear - some coincidence about two 954s if so...

This Sabre was flown in the Korean War but it is not the aircraft of Korean War ace Col. Joseph McConnell as painted. That F-86F was later written off while in Republic of China AF service. This one is in fact 52-5513, transferred to the Republic of Korea AF in 1955. By 1978 it was back in the US and on display at Eglin. My photo here shows the aircraft as it was in 1979. Another Sabre, an ex-Greek AF Canadair-built example, is painted in the same markings and can been seen in their museum at Tatoi

Seen soon after being placed on display, this F-86F is actually 52-5513, as per my 2024 photo

This is one of the many preserved Soviet-built aircraft that were flown by the 4477th Tactical Evaluation Squadron, very likely ex-Indonesian. A US identity of '014' has been mentioned but its original identity is not known

This Cobra was originally built as AH-1T c/n 26927 but was converted to AH-1W. In May 1996 it was involved in a mid-air collision with a CH-46F at Camp Lejeune, NC. Rebuilt as c/n 29160 and decommissioned at Pensacola for the museum in November 2019

Operated by NAS Norfolk-based Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 123 "Screwtops" till decommissioned and flown to the museum in 2014

From acceptance in 1988 this SH-60 operated with HSL-40, HSL-44 and HSL-48, all at NAS Mayport, FL and was flown to the museum in 2009

One of the SeaRangers operated by Helicopter Training Squadron 8 (HT-8), Training Air Wing 5 (TAW-5) from nearby NAS Whiting Field, FL

F-14 taken on charge in 1980 and served VF-32, VF-103, VF-13 and VF-213. In 1991 while with VF-103 it was converted to F-14D(R) making it TARPS (Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System) capable. Flew 244 combat sorties during its career, in 2002 over Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom from USS Carl Vinson and in 2006 in the northern Arabian Gulf from USS Theodore Roosevelt. In April 2006 it was flown from the Roosevelt to Pensacola for preservation

From 1974 this S-3 served VS-41, VS-21, VS-29, VS-31, VS-35, VS-33 and was back with VS-35 by 2000, as displayed nowadays. In 2002 it was deployed aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, logging combat missions over Iraq and is notable as the aircraft which was the first ever to land a US President on a carrier when it carried George W Bush aboard in May 2003. Two months later it was fried to Pensacola for preservation

From 1974 operated with VMA-513 (MCAS Yuma), transferring to VMA-231 (MCAS Cherry Point) in 1982 on conversion from AV-8A to AV-8C. It later went back to VMA-513 and spent time aboard LPH7 Guadalcanal before placement in the care of AMARC in 1988. By 1994 it had been acquired by the Pensacola museum. Another AV-8C is in the possession of NNAM is loaned to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field

Painted in the SVNAF colours it wore in the mid-1970s, this Bird Dog was taken on strength as an O-1A by the US Army as 51-4981 in 1951. In 1966 Cessna converted it to O-1G at Wichita and it was deployed to Vietnam. On 29 April 1975 a SVNAF major crammed his wife and five children aboard to escape advancing North Vietnamese forces. Flying out to sea in the hope of finding a rescue ship, he ran low on fuel but spotted USS Midway, its deck full with helicopters. He dropped a pleading note written on a chart and a number of Hueys and Chinooks were pushed over the side so he could land!

This is actually a UC-78B suppled to the USAAF as 43-7995 painted to represent a Navy JRC-1. Post-war it was registered N63426 and from that the false BuNo marked on the aircraft was derived

In August 1942, flying out of Louisiana this Widgeon attacked and damaged submarine U-171. It was registered to the US Department of Interior as N743 in 1948 and was sold to Kodiak Airways in Alaska becoming N2770A in 1956. In 1959 it crashed and sank but was retrieved. By now in private hands, in 1966 it was substantially damaged in a wheels-up landing at Seldovia, AK. Further ownership changes saw it registered N324BC in 1973 and N212ST in 1980. Acquired by the NAM in 1984

This Goose is painted as V190 which crashed into cliffs on Block Island, RI in April 1942. It is actually the next in series, V191 which was sold off after the war and registered as NC5538N in 1948. While with Catalina Seaplanes it was involved in three major accidents causing substantial damage. In July 1966 it landed in the wake of a tugboat causing the tail unit to distort, in January 1970 it nosed over on landing in the water wheels down and in December the same year it collided with another aircraft on the ground while taxiing at Long Beach. In 1974 registered N12CS and to museum c.1986

Some 529 T-2 Buckeyes were built between 1958 and 1970. From acceptance in 1970 this one flew with VT-26 at NAS Chase Field, TX and VT-19 then CTW-1 at NAS Meridian, MS. In 2003 it made the last carrier landing by a T-2 and in 2004 was decommissioned and sent to the Pensacola museum

From new in 1970 served Electronic Attack Squadrons (VAQ) 129, 130, 140, 137 and 129 (all at NAS Whidbey Island, WA). In 1996 transferred to Strike Aircraft Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23), NAS Patuxent River, MD, then VX-9 at NAS China Lake, CA before going back to Pat River with VX-23. It has been preserved at Pensacola since 2010, at which time it was the oldest active EA-6B, in the marks of that last unit

Taken on with VS-41 at NAS North Island in late 1968 and deployed with VAL-4 to Vietnam in early next year. Unit decommissioned in the Philippines in 1972 and by 1980 the Bronco had been assigned to VMO-4 (Marine Observation Squadron 4) at Atlanta. By 1991, transferred to VMO-1 at MCAS New River, NC. Stored at MCAS Cherry Point, NC in 1995, it was later displayed at MCAS Quantico, VA and at Charlotte before joining the Pensacola museum collection where it was restored into its VAL-4 colours

The spectacular sight found in the central atrium of the National Naval Aviation Museum. Three of these are genuine Blue Angels Skyhawks but the lead aircraft '1' marked as 154180 (which is actually in the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field) is actually 150076. There quite a few A-4s scattered around in the US masquerading as Blue Angels aircraft, often not genuine

The final development in a lineage that included the USAF's F-86 Sabre, the FJ-4 shared its general layout and engine with the earlier FJ-3, but featured a new wing and was a greatly different design in its final form. Beautifully restored in its original Marines unit markings, between 1956 and 1959 this FJ-4 operated with VMF-232 "Red Devils" from Kaneohe Bay, HI, the unit in which the FJ-2 suspended overhead in the museum also served. Demoted to the Naval Air Training Unit, NAS Glynco, GA in 1962 and stuck off in 1964 with 2,351 hours logged