Special Museum Events

Inspired by The Museum of Flight’s Untold Stories - World War II at 75 exhibit, this 4-week interactive online lecture series brings you to the frontlines of the subject matter and to the development of a world-class museum display. Each week you will meet Museum curators, exhibit developers and World War II experts to share their professional secrets and some of the forgotten, or sometimes suppressed, histories of World War II. The series can be enjoyed as in-depth facilitated course, or you may choose individual sessions based upon your personal interests.

Week 1 – Creating a World War II Exhibit Based Upon Personal Stories
Meet the archivists and developers who designed the Museum’s Untold Stories - World War II at 75 exhibit. In a world where the average museum visitor spends merely seconds reading information on any given sign, how do exhibit designers create something that will satisfy a casual reader and those who want to explore the deeper story? What if your goal is to also reveal War stories that languished for decades? The session also includes presentations about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Japanese American experience in World War II.
 
Speakers: 
Sune Sandling and Cody Othoudt, Exhibit Developers, The Museum of Flight – Panel: Creating an Exhibit 
Harvey Hawks, Tuskegee Airmen Historian and Museum of Flight Docent – Bill Holloman and the Tuskegee Airmen 
Matthew Burchette, Senior Curator, The Museum of Flight – Ben Kuroki: Nisei Gunner 

Individual Lectures
General Admission - $25
Members - $20

Full Series
General Admission - $80
Members - $60

Inspired by The Museum of Flight’s Untold Stories - World War II at 75 exhibit, this 4-week interactive online lecture series brings you to the frontlines of the subject matter and to the development of a world-class museum display. Each week you will meet Museum curators, exhibit developers and World War II experts to share their professional secrets and some of the forgotten, or sometimes suppressed, histories of World War II. The series can be enjoyed as in-depth facilitated course, or you may choose individual sessions based upon your personal interests.

Week 2 – Women Aviators and the LGBTQ+ Experience in WWII
This session challenges history buffs to consider facts, ideas, and perspectives they may have never encountered. It begins with a presentation about WWII’s women in aviation and the forgotten story of the Women Air Force Service Pilots—the glass-ceiling shattering women who ferried military aircraft across the country, and towed gunnery targets for live-fire dogfight exercises. The session continues with a look at the lives of Ben Small (Army Air Corps) and Helen Harder (Women’s Army Corp), two of the millions of LGBTQ+ Americans who served in the war despite the military regulations meant to screen them out and exclude them. 

Speakers: 
Leslie Czechowski, Librarian, Historian, Author and Museum of Flight Docent – Women Air Force Service Pilots 
Sean Mobley, Flight Deck Podcast Host, The Museum of Flight – Something to Prove: Spotlighting World War II LGBTQ+ Stories

Individual Lectures
General Admission - $25
Members - $20

Full Series
General Admission - $80
Members - $60

Please apply the promo code FullSeries to receive the discount when purchasing all four lectures.

Inspired by The Museum of Flight’s Untold Stories - World War II at 75 exhibit, this 4-week interactive online lecture series brings you to the frontlines of the subject matter and to the development of a world-class museum display. Each week you will meet Museum curators, exhibit developers and World War II experts to share their professional secrets and some of the forgotten, or sometimes suppressed, histories of World War II. The series can be enjoyed as in-depth facilitated course, or you may choose individual sessions based upon your personal interests.

Week 3 – Revealing the WWII Luftwaffe Myths and Polish Pilots in the RAF 
From Nazi flying saucers to Poles in the RAF, we investigate untold (or mythic) stories from the European Theater. The session begins with the story of the Royal Air Force No. 303 Squadron, comprised of Polish aviators who flew with the Allies to liberate their homeland, and whose victories ultimately led to tragedy. We will also sift through the persistent legends about the Luftwaffe, examining claims from submersible V-2 rockets off the coast of North America to a German atomic bomb.
 
Speakers: 
Jan Czechowski, Professor of Theatre, Aviation Historian and Museum of Flight Docent - RAF 303 Kosciuszko Squadron and The Battle of Britain: Heroics and Humiliation 
Dr. Dieter M. Zube - Senior Spacecraft Propulsion Engineer, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Museum of Flight Docent - The Luftwaffe: Myths and Legends 

Individual Lectures
General Admission - $25
Members - $20

Full Series
General Admission - $80
Members - $60

Inspired by The Museum of Flight’s Untold Stories - World War II at 75 exhibit, this 4-week interactive online lecture series brings you to the frontlines of the subject matter and to the development of a world-class museum display. Each week you will meet Museum curators, exhibit developers and World War II experts to share their professional secrets and some of the forgotten, or sometimes suppressed, histories of World War II. The series can be enjoyed as in-depth facilitated course, or you may choose individual sessions based upon your personal interests.

Week 4  – Getting a Handle on History’s Inconvenient Truths
This session looks at how museums present topics that are disturbing and even controversial. Exhibit developers must tell the unvarnished truth without overwhelming the average visitor, and this session looks at a specific event in WWII, takes you inside our artifact that was a part of that event, and facilitates discussions about how to develop an exhibit about it. The topic: “Operation Meetinghouse” and the B-29 bomber. 

You’ll begin with a personally led virtual 3D tour inside the Museum’s B-29, a plane that was actually used in America’s first devastating firebomb attack on Tokyo—code-named Operation Meetinghouse—that killed more civilians than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. You will learn about the plane and the mission it flew; then the session breaks into small, facilitated groups to discuss how to create an exhibit about Operation Meetinghouse.
 
Speakers: 
Bill McCutcheon – Aviation Historian and Docent, The Museum of Flight - B-29 Interior 3D Tour 
Becca Harmsen – Museologist, The Museum of Flight - Inconvenient Truths: The Representation and Interpretation of War in Museums 

Please apply the promo code FullSeries to receive the discount when purchasing all four lectures.