With the CH-46 Sea Knight finally bowing out of service later this year, the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum is set to receive an example on temporary loan from the United States Marine Corps at a ceremony this August. Here are the preliminary details from NASM. We will be reporting more information as it becomes available.
Press Release: Chantilly, Virginia
The CH-46 Sea Knight has served America’s military with distinction for more than 50 years. On Saturday, August 1st, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in collaboration with the United States Marine Corps and National Museum of the United States Marine Corps, will present a retirement ceremony for this historic aircraft. Watch the ceremony at noon outside the Boeing Aviation Hangar as one of the last CH-46 Sea Knights makes its final flight to the Udvar-Hazy Center.
The aircraft featured in the retirement ceremony is being donated to the National Museum of the Marine Corps by the United States Marine Corps. It will be loaned to the National Air and Space Museum and remain on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center until an expansion of the National Museum of the Marine Corps is complete in the coming years.
Richard Mallory Allnutt's aviation passion ignited at the 1974 Farnborough Airshow. Raised in 1970s Britain, he was immersed in WWII aviation lore. Moving to Washington DC, he frequented the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, meeting aviation legends.
After grad school, Richard worked for Lockheed-Martin but stayed devoted to aviation, volunteering at museums and honing his photography skills. In 2013, he became the founding editor of Warbirds News, now Vintage Aviation News. With around 800 articles written, he focuses on supporting grassroots aviation groups.
Richard values the connections made in the aviation community and is proud to help grow Vintage Aviation News.
It,s a shame the Marines can,t allow one Aircraft to stay for permanent display.Let them find a way to restore their own for their Musium!
We’ve got one on a stick at the main gate to New a River, and the most famous of all is fully restored and on display at KCLT.
It’s so sad to see all these sleeping battle phrogs. We owe a great debt to these machines and 99.9% of the population will never know why