Vietnam Divided: War Above Southeast Asia, Museum of Flight, Seattle by Sune Sandling at Coroflot.com

Vietnam Divided: War Above Southeast Asia, Museum of Flight, Seattle

Vietnam Divided: War Above Southeast Asia, Museum of Flight, Seattle from Sune Sandling

Vietnam Divided: War Above Southeast Asia, Museum of Flight, Seattle

Military aircraft of the Vietnam War had been in the Museum of Flight's collection for decades, but the creation of a coherent exhibit covering their history and the history of the war wasn't undertaken until 2017.

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The space presented many challenges, such as a lack of usable wall space and no one clear entry point or direction to interact with the exhibit.

Light-sensitive artifacts such as clothing or paper need protection from exposure to sunlight. This was accomplished by displaying them in north-facing interpretations of revetments, protective barriers found on most military airfields during the War. The revetments also serve as wall space to display content.

The story of the War was impossible to tell via a chronological presentation. We opted to focus on topics relating to each aircraft that are presented on graphic presentation groupings. Personal experiences of the War are shared with filmed oral histories told by aircrew members from all branches of the U.S. services.

Docents begin their tours of this exhibit at a bas-relief map of southeast Asia, from where one can view the aircraft in the exhibit at a glance during the presentation.