San Diego Air & Space Museum

San Diego Air & Space Museum is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, USA. It is located in Balboa Park, frequently referred to as the "Smithsonian of the West" for its high concentration of museums. Aviation history is truly a remarkable story, and it all unfolds at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Your journey through the history of flight begins as you stand beneath a model of the Montgolfier brothers' hot air balloon of 1783 - the first manned vehicle in recorded history to break the bonds of gravity and lift humans above the Earth.Rare specimens of aircraft suggest the excitement of air combat in the World War I Gallery. Marvel at the entertaining and dangerous antics of the barnstormers of the 1920s in the Golden Age of Flight Gallery.Mint condition aircraft in a mint condition museum - a Spitfire Mk. XVI, a Navy F6F Hellcat and an A-4 Skyhawk jet - these beautifully restored airplanes help you appreciate the increasingly complex technology represented in the classic military aircraft of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The Museum's display of space age technology, like the desire to journey to the stars, may never be finished, for it represents an adventure which the human race has truly just begun.