The National Museum of Naval Aviation is located onboard Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Blue Angels in Atrium

Photo - A4 Blue Angels Hanging in atrium

Views of Lighter Than Air Exhibit Page One

Exhibits & Collections > History Up Close > Aircraft on Display (A-E)


Period artifacts position inside the K-47 airship control car give the impression that it is ready to take flight on patrol.  Restored by museum staff and volunteers after it was pulled from a scrapyard near Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurst, New Jersey, K-47 is part of the most widely produced class of airships in naval aviation history.  The backbone of the Navy's lighter than air operations during World War II, K-ships flew antisubmarine patrols over convoys and logged many an air-sea rescue flight.
Seaplanes From this cockpit removed from the control car of the ZPG-2 airship "Snow Bird," Commander Jack R. Hunt commanded a crew that flew into history during March 1957.  Launching from Naval Air Station (NAS) South Weymouth, Massachusetts, the airship made two crossings of the Atlantic before touching down at NAS Key West, Florida.  All told, "Snow Bird" spent  just over eleven days aloft in covering 9,448 miles without refueling.  For his performance on the flight, Hunt received the Harmon International Trophy for Aeronauts.
Side view of the forward section of the famed ZPG-2 "Snow Bird" showing the insignia and nickname.  In March 1957 the airship completed a record-setting 9,448-mile flight without refueling during which it remained airborne for just over eleven days.
Display cases positioned around the lighter-than-air exhibit highlight a number of specific events in the history of airship operations in the U.S. Navy.  Among them is the history of the rigid airship Shenandoah (ZR 1), including the naval aviator wings of Captain Frank R. McCrary, her first skipper, and wreckage recovered when she crashed over Ohio in September 1925.

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