'Always New'

Udvar-Hazy Center of Aviation History Celebrates 20 Years

by Eric Johnson | All Photos Courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum/Jim Preston

Few of us will ever fly fast enough to break the sound barrier, or float weightlessly in an orbiting capsule, or walk on the moon.

But the thrills of aerospace adventure are personally accessible to everyone at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a museum that offers a breathtaking panorama of flight history and collectibles right here in Chantilly.
And now, the Udvar-Hazy Center is beginning its third decade as an enormously popular venue for up-close access to planes, rockets, spacecraft, and much more as a spacious, suburban satellite for the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. .
More than 5,000 people gathered December 2 to celebrate the center’s 20th anniversary. Throughout the day, museum curators drew crowds with informal presentations and question-andanswer sessions at various displays. Those attending included Chris Browne, who serves as the Air and Space Museum’s John and Adrienne Mars Director.
“I never tire coming here,” Browne said. “I never come here thinking, ‘Ah, been there, seen that, done that.’ It always seems new. Now, we continue to grow the collection and much of that is reflected here in the artifacts that have joined the collection since its opening 20 years ago.”
Also attending were the center’s namesake Steven Udvar-Hazy, who serves as Executive Chairman of the Board for Air Lease Corp., and his wife, Christine Udvar-Hazy. The couple made a $65 million pledge to the center in 1999 for its construction and operation as an extension of the Air and Space facility on the National Mall.
“One of the roles in expanding the museum by building the center was the education aspect of it,” said Steven Udvar-Hazy. “That’s inspiring young people to develop an enthusiasm, a passion, for aviation and aerospace.
“This is where we think of this place as an incubator for youngsters that want to become astronauts, pilots, engineers, designers, innovators,” he said. “That’s what this center really is all about… to capture the imagination of young people to see greater heights in their own lives so they can make contributions to our world.”
“There’s something awe-inspiring when you get up close to an airplane,” said Christine Udvar-Hazy. “What this museum offers is that everyone at any age can get up close to it and just feel the power of a machine like that.”
The center opened on December 15, 2003, which was nearly 100 years to the day after the Wright Brothers’ first sustained, powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The center recorded more than 200,000 visitors during its first two weeks in operation. Another half-million visitors enjoyed the displays over the following three months.
Today, it’s the most visited museum in Virginia, attracting on average 1 million visitors every year.
Among the more than 180 aircraft displayed are a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb during World War II; the first supersonic commercial airliner, the Concorde; the first pressurized airliner, the Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud; and the Gemini IV space capsule from which astronaut Edward White became the first American to “walk in space.”
Top left: Chris Browne, the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, at the 20th anniversary event.
Top middle: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, the center’s namesake, chats with the audience.
Top right: Visitors explore the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, which is normally only seen from a glassed-in overlook.
Bottom left: A young visitor participates in the paper planemaking contest at the anniversary event.
Bottom right: Young and old enjoy learning at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The 10-story-high Boeing Aviation Hangar displays aircraft hanging at several levels, angled as if in flight. Larger, heavier aircraft are displayed on the floor.
On display inside the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, which opened to the public in 2004, include the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Mobile Quarantine Facility in which the Apollo 11 astronauts stayed after their flight to prevent the possible spread of Moon contagions. Also on view are missiles, rockets, and satellites.
Artifacts are restored under the roof of the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, which opened in 2010. This hangar was part of an expansion that also houses museum archives, a collections processing unit, the Emil Buehler Conservation Laboratory. A collections storage facility opened several years later.
For the 20th anniversary celebration, the restoration hangar was opened to give the public a close look at the artifacts restoration work. Typically, public visitors can only get as close as a glassedin mezzanine overlooking the hangar.
Opening the restoration hangar for the anniversary gathering “made a huge difference. People were able to see the time and the effort and the little details that go into bringing history back for them to see,” said Christine Udvar-Hazy. “The restoration center has been a very big plus in educating all of us in how this is put together.”
For decades before the center was built, Browne noted, the Smithsonian kept a National Collection Aerospace Collection that “wouldn’t fit in its entirety at the museum on the National Mall. So we had far more in storage awaiting display.”
The center “was envisioned to help address that need,” he said. “We’re able to display here some of the largest artifacts that can’t be displayed elsewhere, whether it’s the Discovery Space Shuttle, the SR-71, the Concorde. We’re able to display artifacts in their full configuration in a welcoming environment suitable to learners and visitors.”
The celebration included musical performances by Marsha and the Positrons, which performed children’s songs about space and science, and the U.S. Air Force Brass Quintet. The program was made possible with support from the Thomas Pumpelly Trust.
What’s next as the center begins a new decade? More aircraft, spacecraft, and small artifacts are being added regularly, according to the center’s website, and will continue to be added as more objects are restored and acquired