Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar — Attraction in Chantilly

Contained within the already incredible Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the museum’s dedicated hangar for the aircraft restoration projects currently being undertaken, and you can see the action through a set of large windows overlooking the hangar. Like the rest of the museum, it’s a must visit! When I visited, a variety of aircraft from the NASM’s DC branch were undergoing some TLC in preparation for their reinstallation in the museum, but so too were some icons of military aviation and aerospace history. These included the legendary B-26 Marauder “Flak Bait”, a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka manned bomb, an Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik (which was in the process of a comprehensive rebuild - check out my photos to see a whiteboard detailing the restoration team building the rear fuselage from scratch, according to the original blueprints!), an X-15 hypersonic plane, and many, many more! This section of the museum is accessible via stairs from the main hall at various locations, and lifts are also available. You’ll probably pass through after seeing Space Shuttle Discovery in the adjoining...

Okay, so it isn’t as awe inspiring amazing as the more visitor friendly portions of the National Air and Space Museum but you can wander over and observe the restoration hanger from the upper levels of the main museum. It’s 100% worth a long look and will make you want to suddenly take up mechanics to watch folks tinker with these giant bits of aerospace history and to see what the museum doesn’t have out on the display floors. The fact that there is drinking water nearby the observation deck of these hangers is an...

On my middle school DC trip they said we were going to the air and space museum. I thought they meant the smithsonian one, so imagine my surprise when we pull up to a HANGAR in the middle of nowhere. No zero gravity simulators, no interactive exhibits, literally just airplanes. As I am not a 7 year old boy with a special interest in aviation, i one, did not care, and two, became enraged that this is allowed to share a name with the...