Virtual Tour & Cockpits

Featuring over 100 panoramas, our interactive Virtual Tour allows you to explore the National Naval Aviation Museum from your computer or mobile device, giving you an immersive look at the aircraft and exhibits displayed in honor of the achievements and sacrifices made over a century of Naval Aviation. Further, as part of our panoramic tour we have published the first in a series of cockpit panoramas, which enable visitors to sit behind the sights in a number of unique and historic aircraft!

Getting Started (Help)

The Virtual Tour is fully functional on desktop browsers with Flash enabled (install Flash) and iPad devices. Panoramas can also be browsed on iPhones or Android devices with Adobe Flash, though some features may not be available.

Looking Around

As you browse a panorama, be sure to take in the full 360 x 180 degree field of view; there are often interesting sights and exhibits above and behind, and sometimes below you! You can look around a number of ways:

For desktop users, click and drag the image to change your point of view.
iPad users can look around by simply touching and dragging a single finger across the screen, and can zoom in or out by pinching or spreading two fingers on the screen.
A series of buttons along the bottom of the screen provide means of zooming in and out or finding more information on an area.
Click ‘View Fullscreen’ to open the panorama in its own full-size window.

Interact

Nearly all panoramas feature “hotspots” users can interact with to find information on the exhibits and aircraft in view. More will become available over time, and as development continues the tour will be connected directly to the Museum’s collections database, offering visitors a deeper look at our items, including those not on display.

Desktop users can find hotspots by hovering the mouse cursor over aircraft and exhibits. If an item is active, its title will appear along with a hand cursor (as in the image to the right), indicating that it can be clicked for information.
iPad users will find information icons placed over or near interactive areas, which can be pressed to activate.
Many panoramas also have general information on the location in view, which can be viewed by selecting the ‘i’ button at the bottom of the screen.

Navigation

Navigation arrows can be used to move from one location to the next. A single click or touch will move you to the selected panorama.
Maps are available of the three main divisions of the Museum: the Main Deck, Second Deck, and Hangar Bay One. Maps can be selected from a menu opened by clicking the ‘Maps’ button at the lower right corner of the screen.
Once open, dots on the map indicating panorama locations can be clicked to navigate anywhere in the Museum. On desktop, hovering your cursor over a dot will display the name of the location, while on the iPad selecting a dot will bring up a preview of the area, along with a ‘Go’ button.
Maps can be closed by clicking the ‘X’ button at the top left corner of the map.

Finally, share your experience! Three icons at the top left side of the screen enable you to easily share a link to the panorama you are viewing through Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus. Pass the tour to a friend!