A Museum Tour Through Aviation History

Sea-Air Operations (Gallery 203)

Designed to look like the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier, the Sea-Air Operations gallery displays some of the better known U.S. Navy's carried-based aircraft and a host of exhibits about the development of the aircraft carrier and, in particular, its role during World War II.

Boeing F4B-4
(1928)

The Boeing F4B (aka P-12) first flew in June 1928 and was used extensively by both the U.S. Navy (F4B) and U.S. Army (P-12) through the early 1940s. A production run of 27 aircraft of the F4B-1 variant was assigned to the USS Lexington in 1929. This group was followed the next year by the deployment of 46 F4B-2s. A total of 586 of the aircraft were eventually constructed, with 350 going to the Army as P-12s.

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat
(1939)

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the premiere U.S. Navy fighter during the early years of the War in the Pacific. Wildcats were first engaged in combat in December 1941 in defense of Wake Island against the Japanese, and participated in the epic carrier battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The sturdy little plane was every bit the equal to the Japanese Zero, and ended its combat career with a kill ratio of seven-to-one. F4Fs also served with the Royal Navy, where they were known as Martlets, instead of Wildcats.

Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless
(1939)

The Douglas SBD Dauntless entered service with the U.S. Navy in February 1939 and played a crucial role in the American victory over the Japanese Navy in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. SBDs from the USS Yorktown attacked and eventually sank the Japanese carrier Kaga, while SBDs from the USS Enterprise sank the carriers Akagi and Soryu. Later in the battle, the Hiryu was also sunk. Although replaced later in the War by the Curtiss SB2C, the SBD Dauntless accounted for the majority of Japanese shipping sunk from the air during World War II.

Douglas A-4C Skyhawk
(1954)

An equally capable decendant of the SBD Dauntless was the Douglas A-4C Skyhawk, which first flew in 1954 and became a mainstay of naval ground attack during the Vietnam War. Later A-4E models could carry as much as 8,200 pounds of externally-mounted bombs and missiles, making the A-4 perhaps the most capable attack fighter (pound-for-pound) in the U.S. arsenal. The Museum's A-4 is painted in the markings of VA-76 of the carrier USS Bon Homme Richard.

USS Enterprise CVAN/CVN-65
(1961)

An intricately detailed scale model of the nuclear carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN/CVN-65) and her entire carrier air wing sits just outside the entrance to the Sea-Air Operations gallery. The Enterprise was commissioned in 1961 and became the first nuclear powered ship to enter combat when she took up her station off the coast of Vietnam in November 1965. Forty years after her commissioning, the Enterprise also took up station in the Indian Ocean and launched the first attacks against al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan in retaliation for the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001. She will continue into the 21st Century as a guardian of freedom and a proud descendant of the World War II carrier USS Enterprise CV-6, which was the most decorated ship of that War.

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk on display in this gallery is one of the new breed of aircraft that is highlighted in the next stop on our Museum tour of aviation history -- Jet Aviation.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003