List of aircraft in the Smithsonian Institution facts for kids

The Smithsonian Institution has the world's largest collection of airplanes and spacecraft! You can see these amazing machines at three main places: the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, and the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility where they fix up old planes. This article will tell you about some of the cool aircraft you can find there.

Planes at the National Air and Space Museum

The famous Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis

The Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis

A Douglas DC-3 passenger plane

The main home for the Smithsonian's amazing aircraft collection is the National Air and Space Museum. It's located right on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. Many of the most famous planes and spacecraft are shown here. This includes the very first successful airplane, the Wright Flyer. You can also see Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis plane. Another highlight is the Apollo 11 Command Module called Columbia, which carried astronauts to the Moon.

The museum has many other incredible aircraft. Here are just a few examples:

Planes at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Boeing 367-80, a test plane for the Boeing 707

A Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13 fighter jet

The unique Dornier Do 335 Pfeil with propellers at both ends

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay

The super-fast Concorde passenger jet

The speedy Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center opened in 2003. It is located near Washington Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County, Virginia. This huge center displays thousands of aircraft and spacecraft. There wasn't enough room for all of them in the main museum building. The James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, which opened in 2004, is also part of the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Here are some of the many amazing aircraft you can see at this center:

Planes at the Paul E. Garber Facility

A Bachem Ba 349 rocket-powered interceptor being restored

The Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility is in Suitland, Maryland. It's a large complex with 32 buildings. This is where the museum stores and restores many of its aircraft and spacecraft. Over time, the planes from the Garber Facility are being moved to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. In the future, all the restoration work for the museum's exhibits will happen at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Here are some of the aircraft that have been, or still are, at the Garber Facility:

Planes at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

The National Museum of African American History and Culture also has a special plane on display. It's a restored PT-13 Stearman biplane from World War II. This type of plane was used to train the famous Tuskegee Airmen at Moton Field.

Planes on Loan

The Smithsonian also loans out some of its aircraft to other museums or for special events. Here are a few examples of planes that have been on loan: