Steven F Udvar Hazy Center is an annex of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum at Washington DC. This museum holds numerous exhibits including Discovery space shuttle and Enola Gay.
Udvar Hazy Center was made possible due to a 69 million USD donation by the millionaire Steven Udvar Hazy, who himself was an immigrant from Hungary. Steven Udvar Hazy founded one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world - International Leasing Finance Corporation - which leases Airbus and Boeing to worlds Airline companies.
The museum has a lot of old and new aircraft and aviation related items, and one can easily spend atleast half a day there. Aviation enthusiasts will easily spend more time there. The below pictures are only a selected few from my collection.
Space shuttle Discovery - was the third orbiter of NASA after Columbia and Challenger. It was launched and landed 39 different times, it launched the Hubble Space telescope. Both Columbia and Challenger were lost, Challenger breaking apart during the launch in 1986 and Columbia disintegrating upon reentry in 2003 - losing their crew both times. Discovery was retired on 2011, and was eventually put on public display.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - its a strategic long range reconnaissance aircraft built by Lockheed. Only 32 such aircraft were build and went into service. It remains the fastest aircraft ever went into service.
Enola Gay - It is B-29 bomber, which was selected to drop the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan.
Air France Concorde - Concorde was a supersonic passenger jet that went out of service in 2003. Only 20 flights were ever built. The average ticket
Boeing 367-80 - an experimental aircraft built by Boeing to prove jet propulsion system, which eventually served as the baseline of Boeing 707. Only one was every build.
Boeing 307 Stratoliner - the only surviving such aircraft. This was the first passenger aircraft that had pressurized cabin.
Northrop P-61 Blackwidow - A US military aircraft which was the first one to use radar, and hence could fly at night.
Grumman F14 Tomcat
Grumman A6 - which was used by US Navy and Marines
Heinkel He 219 - used by German Luftwaffe
Northrop N1 - An experimental aircraft
Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer - a solo pilot flew this non-stop around the globe
Sikorsky HH52 that served in the US Coast Guard
MiG 21 - The service history of this aircraft is marked as "unkown"
MiG 15 - A Chinese version of MiG 15 is on display
An older aircraft under restoration
There are 100s of more such aircrafts in the museum, and here is a panoramic image of the main floor
Udvar Hazy Center was made possible due to a 69 million USD donation by the millionaire Steven Udvar Hazy, who himself was an immigrant from Hungary. Steven Udvar Hazy founded one of the largest aircraft leasing companies in the world - International Leasing Finance Corporation - which leases Airbus and Boeing to worlds Airline companies.
The museum has a lot of old and new aircraft and aviation related items, and one can easily spend atleast half a day there. Aviation enthusiasts will easily spend more time there. The below pictures are only a selected few from my collection.
Space shuttle Discovery - was the third orbiter of NASA after Columbia and Challenger. It was launched and landed 39 different times, it launched the Hubble Space telescope. Both Columbia and Challenger were lost, Challenger breaking apart during the launch in 1986 and Columbia disintegrating upon reentry in 2003 - losing their crew both times. Discovery was retired on 2011, and was eventually put on public display.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird - its a strategic long range reconnaissance aircraft built by Lockheed. Only 32 such aircraft were build and went into service. It remains the fastest aircraft ever went into service.
Enola Gay - It is B-29 bomber, which was selected to drop the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan.
Air France Concorde - Concorde was a supersonic passenger jet that went out of service in 2003. Only 20 flights were ever built. The average ticket
Boeing 367-80 - an experimental aircraft built by Boeing to prove jet propulsion system, which eventually served as the baseline of Boeing 707. Only one was every build.
Boeing 307 Stratoliner - the only surviving such aircraft. This was the first passenger aircraft that had pressurized cabin.
Northrop P-61 Blackwidow - A US military aircraft which was the first one to use radar, and hence could fly at night.
Grumman F14 Tomcat
Grumman A6 - which was used by US Navy and Marines
Heinkel He 219 - used by German Luftwaffe
Northrop N1 - An experimental aircraft
Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer - a solo pilot flew this non-stop around the globe
Sikorsky HH52 that served in the US Coast Guard
MiG 21 - The service history of this aircraft is marked as "unkown"
MiG 15 - A Chinese version of MiG 15 is on display
An older aircraft under restoration
There are 100s of more such aircrafts in the museum, and here is a panoramic image of the main floor
