See These Pioneering Air- and Spacecraft in Your Town

Rare Smithsonian artifacts are on display at museums across the country.

Aviation and space travel are boundless frontiers that beckon us to go faster, higher, and further than those who came before. A visit to the National Air and Space Museum reveals a seemingly endless succession of firsts. Indeed, the Museum’s collection documents the history of the first aircraft to cross the United States and the Atlantic; the first pilots to fly more than 100 mph and faster than sound; the first Americans to land in Antarctica and then on the moon; the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Earth and the first to use gravity assist to visit other worlds.

Some of the remarkable artifacts that memorialize these achievements might be closer to you than you realize. Through collaborations with affiliate organizations, the Smithsonian sponsors traveling exhibitions and loans artifacts to museums throughout the United States and abroad. We’re showcasing six of these artifacts in this issue of Air & Space Quarterly—airplanes and spacecraft that tell such stories as the first astronauts to visit a U.S. space station and the precious first moments a helicopter hovered in the air. We recommend, though, that you check with your local museums to confirm that these artifacts are currently on display before you and your family begin your own expedition of discovery.

Special Delivery

Stinson SR-10F Reliant

Smithsonian National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.

The airplanes and spacecraft in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum can be seen at the Museum’s building in Washington, D.C., and at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. But did you know that you can see some of these artifacts at other Smithsonian museums? Just a 20-minute walk away from the Museum in Washington, D.C., the Stinson SR-10F Reliant hangs on display at the National Postal Museum, which showcases the largest and most comprehensive collection of stamps and philatelic material in the world. This particular Stinson played a role in the development of U.S. airmail, which heralded the era of widespread commercial aviation. 

The SR-10F did not begin its storied career as a delivery vehicle. In 1926, the Stinson Aircraft Corporation introduced the Stinson Detroiter, a rugged monoplane with sophisticated features for the time, such as a heated, soundproof cabin. In 1933, Stinson delivered the SR-1 and SR-2, and—with a progression of refinements and engine upgrades—the series continued until the SR-10 in 1938. The SR-10s were truly the limousine class of personal transport, with fine leather upholstery and walnut-faced instrument panels. Beneath the luxury, the Reliant was also a sturdily built airplane, made mostly of welded chromium-molybdenum steel tubing structures. 

The Museum’s SR-10F, NX-2311, was completed on July 22, 1939, one of 18 such models manufactured. Its first owner was Harry Lunger, who was associated with All American Aviation. Lunger sold the airplane to the company, which then reregistered it as NX-2311 and installed aerial pick-up equipment in the cabin and knife-edge cutters over the top half of the wheels and struts.

All American Aviation’s delivery and pick-up system sought to bring airmail service to remote areas. On the ground, a rope attached to an airmail bag was strung between two poles. After dropping a bag of mail from another line, the pilot flew so that a grappling hook (later a steel boom) lowered from the aircraft and snatched the rope’s loop; a winch then reeled the bag into the aircraft. The cutters could sever the ropes in case of an entanglement with the ground rig during a pick-up or delivery sequence. 

A demonstration of the technology—enabling the first-ever nonstop airmail pickup—was held in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. “The crowd and gathered officials were rightfully excited as they had just been witness to history,” wrote aviation historian Charlie Pyles. “Small town America was now linked with the national airmail system without having to build an airport.”

All American transferred NX-2311 to the U.S. Army Air Corps later that year for experimental tests in the rescue and recovery of aircraft and people. After tests with dummies and live sheep, Lieutenant Alexis Doster was the first person to be picked up from the ground—on September 4, 1943, at the Clinton County Airport in Ohio.

The aircraft was stored at the Museum’s Garber Facility in Maryland until 1993, when it was restored and lent to the National Postal Museum.

“A Cool Guy”

Mercury-Atlas 5 Capsule

Museum of Life and Science, Durham, North Carolina

In 1961, the American space program hit a wall. Mercury-Redstone rockets had successfully lofted astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom more than 115 miles above the Earth, where they conducted the suborbital flights that represented the United States’ first tentative steps into the era of crewed spaceflight. 

But if the U.S. was to achieve an orbital flight, it would need a more powerful rocket in the form of the Mercury-Atlas launch vehicle. Problem was, NASA didn’t know if it was safe for astronauts. The space agency had launched four uncrewed Mercury-Atlas rockets between July 1960 and September 1961. Two of them exploded. And while the Mercury-Atlas 4 mission met its goals, engineers wanted another test of the space capsule’s cabin environment and doctors wanted more data on the effects of weightlessness. 

And so it came to pass that a chimpanzee named Enos would fly aboard Mercury-Atlas 5, making him the first chimpanzee to complete an orbital mission. Enos was a native of Cameroon whom the U.S. Air Force had bought from a Florida wildlife center in 1960. The chief veterinarian confirmed he had the right stuff, describing him as “quite a cool guy and not the performing type at all.”

On November 29, 1961, Enos entered orbit. But because of a malfunctioning control jet and an overheated inverter, Enos was brought down after two orbits. The mission had, however, met its two primary objectives—testing the spacecraft’s environmental control system and the procedures for recovering an astronaut—and thus was considered a success. (Enos was found to be in excellent physical condition following splashdown, though he was quite agitated.) In September 1967, the Smithsonian collected the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule from NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center). Space enthusiasts can see the capsule at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina, which is also home to several artifacts from the Apollo program on loan from the Smithsonian, including a J-2 rocket engine—the powerplant for the second and third stages of the Saturn 5—and a full-size mockup of a lunar module.

Tail-Sitters

Ryan X-13 Vertijet

San Diego Air & Space Museum

Throughout the 1950s, most major aircraft manufacturers in the United States were anticipating the application of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) technology. An aircraft with a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one could launch vertically, and, once airborne, transition to horizontal flight. Having completed its mission, the aircraft could land vertically, giving it the freedom to operate without expensive, easily targeted runways. 

The Ryan Aircraft Corporation conducted studies suggesting that a jet-powered design was feasible by incorporating a reaction control system that diverted exhaust gases in the desired direction to enable control during hovering and low-speed flight. In July 1954, the U.S. Air Force issued a contract to the company to construct two VTOL tail-sitter demonstrators designated as the X-13 Vertijet, a compact, single-engine delta-wing fighter. 

By late 1955, Ryan completed the first Vertijet (serial number 54-1619), and on December 10, it completed its first flight. During this early phase, engineers didn’t want to fly the X-13 vertically until they had thoroughly explored its handling characteristics. Five months later, on May 28, 1956, test pilot Pete Girard made the first vertical takeoff and landing. The same day also saw the first flight of the second X-13 (serial number 54-1620).

During conventional flight, the fighter was agile and responsive. As the X-13 transitioned to a nose-high attitude to hover on the thrust from its engine, a vectorable exhaust nozzle linked to the controls provided a simple and effective means of control. Small bleed-air thrusters mounted on the wingtips allowed for small adjustments to the pitch and yaw of the aircraft during the tricky landing process.

 The landings, though, were the least practical aspect of the Vertijet concept. The airframe obscured the pilot’s vision, which made it extremely difficult to judge the distance to the ground without constant radio communication with an observer at the airfield. 

On July 30, 1957, the aircraft put on an impressive display at the Pentagon for more than 3,000 military officers and journalists. Competing programs, however, reduced the funds available to continue the project, and the X-13 took to the air for the last time on September 30, 1957. Still, the Vertijet accomplished all that was asked of it and, by the end of the 20th century, the X-13’s thrust vectoring system would become the foundation for an essential component of advanced combat aircraft. 

In 1960, Ryan donated the first X-13 to the Smithsonian. It’s currently on loan to the San Diego Air & Space Museum, which hosts another eminent Smithsonian artifact, the Apollo 9 command module. The second X-13 can be seen at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”

Tadpole Clipper

Baltimore Museum of Industry

The Martin PBM Mariner was one of the most successful patrol aircraft of World War II. Manufactured by the Baltimore-based Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company, the PBM incorporated several novel design elements, including a deep hull mounting a gull wing­— which positioned the engines away from the salt spray—and an internal bomb bay that enabled higher speeds when the aircraft was loaded with ordnance. 

History records February 18, 1939, as the day  the PBM first took flight, but a miniature, 3/8‑scale prototype model of the innovative aircraft had flown nearly 15 months earlier: the Martin Model 162A, also known as the “Tadpole Clipper.” The Martin Company built the smaller version for financial reasons, yet the project foreshadowed a common practice of contemporary flight testing: employing technology demonstrators that frequently do not match the size of the intended production aircraft.

Construction of the Tadpole Clipper began in mid-1937. It wasn’t a perfectly scaled-down version because of practical considerations—such as the installation of a single Martin-Chevrolet light aircraft engine in the Tadpole’s fuselage—but its external features closely resembled those of the PBM, including the distinctive gull wing. Engineers didn’t regard deviations from the plans to be a significant problem; they were more concerned about the hydrodynamic qualities of the hull than its flight characteristics.

On December 3, 1937, the fabric-covered spruce plywood and aluminum aircraft made its first flight. The wide variety of water conditions at the nearby Chesapeake Bay in Maryland offered a perfect outdoor laboratory to test the aircraft’s sea handling qualities, which were essential to the PBM’s success as a maritime patrol bomber. The engineering team, for instance, examined the best bow configuration to direct sea spray away from the engines and propeller arc.

By the end of 1938, the Tadpole Clipper was retired and was hung from the ceiling in one of Martin’s Baltimore factory buildings. In 1953, the company offered the Tadpole Clipper to the Smithsonian Institution. Nearly 30 years later, a driven team of volunteers, many of whom were former company employees, began an exhaustive restoration of the historic flying boat, which is currently on loan to the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Only one of the 1,366 full-size PBMs constructed during the war survives intact. It was donated to the Smithsonian in 1973. The aircraft is on loan and can be seen at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.

Rescue Mission

Skylab 2 Command Module

National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida

On May 25, 1973, a Saturn 1B rocket launched the Skylab 2 command and service modules into orbit with an all-U.S. Navy crew of astronauts: Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, and Joseph Kerwin. The crew would execute the first human mission to the Skylab space station—but NASA feared it might also be the last. 

Eleven days earlier, the Skylab space station had suffered significant damage during launch. Skylab’s micrometeorite shield—which also served as protection from the sun’s heat—had peeled away from the space station’s orbital workshop module due to a design flaw that permitted air to rush underneath it. As the shield separated, it became entangled in one of the space station’s solar arrays while tearing off the other. The snafu had left the United States’ first space station underpowered and overheated.

On Skylab 2’s fifth orbit, the crew docked with the workshop and, after entering, began repairs. Following the deployment of a parasol sunshade that cooled the inside of the space station to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, Conrad and Kerwin conducted a spacewalk that freed the jammed solar array, providing Skylab with enough power to finish the mission and save the program. The astronauts spent the remainder of their 28 days in orbit conducting observations of the sun and Earth, performing medical studies, and conducting five student experiments. Skylab 2 set records for what were then the longest duration crewed spaceflight and the greatest distance traveled (404 orbits).

On June 22, 1973, the Skylab 2 command module carrying the three astronauts splashed down in the Pacific. The spacecraft and crew were recovered by the USS Ticonderoga aircraft carrier. 

Ownership of the command module was transferred by NASA to the Smithsonian in 1974. Today, visitors can see the module on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. That museum is home to another pioneering artifact on loan from the Smithsonian: the Curtiss NC-4 flying boat, which became the first airplane to cross the Atlantic in 1919.

Creative Spin

The Berliner Helicopter

College Park Aviation Museum, Maryland

The father-and-son team of Emile and Henry Berliner were the most notable American helicopter experimenters of the 1920s. 

Emile was already a prodigious inventor when, in 1903, he became fascinated with powered flight and sought to build an aircraft that could operate from any location. He realized that his design required a lightweight engine and decided on a rotary model instead of the heavier in-line engines commonly used in aircraft. 

In 1910, Berliner began to consider the use of a vertically mounted tail rotor to counteract torque on his single main-rotor design—a configuration that later played a crucial role in helicopter development during the 1940s.

Emile’s business concerns and deteriorating health prevented him from pursuing improved designs. His son Henry, however, was also a talented engineer and he continued his father’s work. In 1922, Henry ordered a surplus Nieuport 23 fighter fuselage and mounted a Bentley 220-hp engine to the front. He attached a spar mid-way up the fuselage to form the bottom of a truss extending from the sides of the aircraft. The trusses each supported one of the two counter-rotating lifting rotors, which the engine powered through a series of geared shafts. The two rotors could tilt slightly in opposite directions to control yaw.

A variable-pitch tail rotor, mounted horizontally in front of the vertical stabilizer, maintained pitch control while hovering. To initiate forward flight, the pilot pushed forward on the stick to increase the pitch of the horizontal tail rotor, which dropped the nose and inclined the lifting propellers slightly to initiate forward flight. The flight controls also connected to elevators and an enlarged rudder on the tail of the fuselage, which helped maintain control at higher forward speeds. 

Henry decided to mount a set of triplane wings onto the aircraft to allow for a safe glide in case of engine failure. With the new design, he found he could marginally control the helicopter while hovering and in forward flight at speeds up to 40 mph. On February 23, 1924, the helicopter recorded its best performance when it made history by hovering at a height of 15 feet during a one minute, 35-second flight.

But Henry’s reluctance to adopt a cyclic control system and a dependence on relatively small high-load lifting rotors incapable of autorotation ultimately prevented him from constructing a practical helicopter, and he abandoned his experiments.

After Emile and Henry completed the testing of their triplane model, the younger Berliner offered it to the Smithsonian. It is the oldest intact helicopter in the world, and it’s currently on loan to the College Park Aviation Museum in Maryland, located on the site of the Berliner father and son’s original testing ground. 

This article, originally titled "Smithsonian in Your Backyard - First Timers," is from the Summer 2025 issue of Air & Space Quarterly, the National Air and Space Museum's signature magazine that explores topics in aviation and space, from the earliest moments of flight to today. Explore the full issue.

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