Dark blue and white military monoplane on display at the Museum. Monoplane has one engine. The number 208 is painte on the side and back fin of the plane.
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Visit

### Visit

View of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center tower at sunset

### One museum, two locations

Visit us in Washington, DC and Chantilly, VA to explore hundreds of the world’s most significant objects in aviation and space history. Free timed-entry passes are required for the Museum in DC.

What's On

### What's On

Apollo 11: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

### At the museum and online

Discover our exhibitions and participate in programs both in person or virtually.

Explore

### Explore

space shuttle launch

### Dive deep into air and space

Browse our collections, stories, research, and on demand content.

Learn

### Learn

Women in Aviation and Space Family Day

### For teachers and parents

Bring the Air and Space Museum to your learners, wherever you are.

Give

### Give

Bob Hoover Gives an Air Show Performance

### Be the spark

Your support will help fund exhibitions, educational programming, and preservation efforts.

World War II

Stretching across six years, from 1939 until 1945, the second World War involved the majority of countries fighting across the globe.

## Major Events in World War II

Explore the history of this global conflict through some of the major events that happened during the war.

Please Note: This is not intended to be an exhaustive list. Check back as we add more stories.

### Dunkirk

By May 26, 1940, the Germans had forced French, British, and Belgian troops to the port of Dunkirk, isolating them on the beaches. Completely surrounded, the Royal Navy put into motion Operation Dynamo in order to rescue the soldiers who were seen as easy targets for the German Stukas dive bomber and Bf 109 fighter units. Dunkirk could have easily been a tragedy rather than a successful tale of evacuation had it not been for the RAF and, consequently, the 15 Spitfire squadrons sent into battle.

Learn More About the Spitfire

### Pearl Harbor

At 7:48 am, Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, on December 7, 1941, the stillness of Sunday morning was disrupted when the first wave of 183 Japanese torpedo bombers, dive bombers, and escorting fighters attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A second wave of 171 aircraft struck the naval base and airfields shortly before 9 am.

The following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States had entered World War II.

Pearl Harbor Attack

## Learn More About the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Side view of amphibious seaplane on display at the museum. The aircraft has two engines and its sole pair of wings attached above the plane.

## How a "Flying Pickup Truck" Survived Pearl Harbor

The remains of retired Master Chief Glenn Harvey Lane sit on a table at the USS Arizona Memorial with names written on a wall in the background.

## Remembering Pearl Harbor

Sailors stand in the foreground. Damaged aircraft and explosions appear in background. 

## The Complicated Lead Up to Pearl Harbor

### D-Day

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen from the United States, Great Britain, and the British Commonwealth readied themselves for D-Day of Operation Overlord, the designated day for the invasion of France and the start of the liberation of Western Europe from their Nazi occupiers. As dawn broke, thousands of soldiers landed on five beaches along the Normandy coast under the protective fire of British and American warships and overwhelming airpower. Despite this protective umbrella, the fighting was hard and costly before the battle was won.

Paratroopers board a military aircraft

## D-Day and the Douglas C-47

Barrage Balloons at Normandy

## Protecting the Beaches with Balloons

Landing Craft Along Normandy Beach

## Aerial Photography in Action

Radio transmitter with no cover, exposing electrical wiring on the side

## The Technology Behind D-Day's Moonlit Airborne Ops

### Victory in Europe

Almost a year after D-Day, Allied forces had liberated Europe from the Axis powers, and Germany made an unconditional surrender. Learn more about what led to victory in Europe.

### Victory over Japan

On September 2, 1945, there was a formal ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Aboard the battleship USS Missouri, representatives from the Empire of Japan met with those of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, China, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to sign the document that formally ended World War II.

Note: This section contains information about the formal end of World War II and fighting in the Pacific Theater generally. For more information about the use of the atomic bomb, please refer to the section on the Enola Gay .

Representatives of the major Allied powers at surrender ceremony

## The Day the War Ended

This iconic photograph shows four men in helmets raising an American flag over a pile of destruction. 

## STEM in 30 Episode

### Aftermath

Operation Little Vittles, Berlin Airlift

## Berlin Airlift

The logo for Project Recover, showing an abstract of a folded flag.

## Recovering and Repatriating the Dead

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

## The Cold War

In this black and white photograph, three older men stand on a balcony overlooking streets full of hundreds of people. The one on the middle is clearly Winston Churchill--with his distinctive silhouette and cigar. He raises his had in a V for Victory gesture.

## STEM in 30 Episode

A truck overflowing with at least 20 people, some soldiers, some civilians, waving Union Jack flags, drives down the street. Everyone is jubilant. 

## Mission Debrief

## Aircraft and Weapons

The wartime revolution in technology and tactics redefined the promise and peril of military aviation. World War II marked dramatic changes in aviation and aeronautics.

### Allied Aircraft and Weapons

#### United States of America

B-29 in the Udvar-Hazy Center Aviation Hangar

## Boeing B-29 Superfortress

The Museum’s Mosquito Havilland DH-98 Mosquito nose in storage at the Garber facility

## de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito

Dark blue and white military monoplane on display at the Museum. Monoplane has one engine. The number 208 is painte on the side and back fin of the plane.

## Curtiss SB2C Helldiver

Loon Missile

## American V-1

Martin B-26B Marauder Flak-Bait

## Martin B-26B-25-MA Marauder

Enola Gay

On August 6, 1945, the crew of a modified Boeing B-29 Superfortress named Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare, called “Little Boy,” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Another atomic attack on Nagasaki followed three days later. The delivery system for these bombs, the Superfortress, represented the latest advances in American aeronautical engineering and bomber design, and its use in the skies over Japan reflected the evolution of strategic bombing doctrine. As a new and deadly weapon, an atomic bomber, Enola Gay facilitated a turning point in human history as it ushered in the dawn of the Atomic Age and the threat of nuclear war.

More About the Flight of the Enola GayView the Collection Record

#### Soviet Union

Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik

The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik played an essential role in defeating the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. It was the Il-2 the most-produced combat aircraft of World War II.  Among the Shturmovik’s most important assets were its strength and robustness in combat.

More About the Flying Tank

### Allied Aircraft and Weapons

#### Germany

A V2 ballistic missile stands beneath a skylight in the Smithsonian.  Its cylindrical center section tapers through ogival sections to a warhead fuse and rocket engine exhaust in the tail, which has four swept fins with air vanes on the outer tips.

## V-2 Ballistic Missile and Slave Labor

Side view of a green camouflaged German World War II aircraft on display in the Museum.

## Myth of German Wonder Weapons

#### Japan

View of a nose of a Japanese airplane. 

## Japanese Wonder Weapons

Front view of green tri-blade propellered Zero Fighter aircraft

## Mitsubishi A6M Zero Fighter

Japanese Jet Aircraft

## Nakajima Kikka

## People

From pilots to engineers, on the Eastern Front, the Western Front, the Pacific Theatre, and the home front, the contributions of individuals were crucial to the Allied victory in World War II.

#### Groups

Five Black aviators look at a map. They're dressed in flight gear. There is a plane behind them.

## Tuskegee Airmen

The WASP

## Women Airforce Service Pilots

#### Individuals

Jimmy Doolittle

## Jimmy Doolittle

Sgt. Ben Kuroki

## Ben Kuroki

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National Air and Space Museum

Open daily

10:00 am - 5:30 pm

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Open daily

10:00 am - 5:30 pm