An Unexpected Crossover:’The Walt Disney Studios and World War II’ at the Seattle Museum of Flight

I recently had the opportunity to preview the new exhibit “The Walt Disney Studios and World War II” at the Seattle Museum of Flight. If this exhibit sounds familiar, it may be due to having originated at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. “The Walt Disney Studios and World War II” will be at the Museum of Flight until February 5, 2023. Here’s a look at the exhibit.

The gallery is found in the Red Barn section of the Museum of Flight. It feels very appropriate with all the exposed wood beams. This gallery space gives the exhibit an old-timey feel that might have been lost in a metal and glass gallery. Each section of the exhibit depicts various stories about the Walt Disney Studios during World War II.  One of my favorite displays is the very first one that tells about how the day after Pearl Harbor, the military moved into the Studios to defend the nearby Lockheed Aircraft Factory.  Walt welcomed them with open arms.  They went to great lengths to make the military feel welcome.  Walt allowed the military to build numerous facilities on the lot.  There are also some really neat sketches of various servicemen by artists like Milt Kahl, Harvey Toombs, and Marc Davis presented here.  

Another section talks about the opportunities women had for career advancement since many men were overseas.  There is also a section about the Japanese Internment camps and how some of Disney’s employees were incarcerated in them.  

Many of the sections go over the Disney film productions and shorts of the time period.  This includes animated shorts with characters like Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto; training films for the various branches of the military; and the South America Goodwill Trip films like Saludos Amigos and pro-war films like Victory Through Air Power. Each of these areas has artwork from the films, including some original cels.  Roald Dahl’s Gremlins are featured in their own area with a history of the project, its successes and the failed film.

You should not miss the area that shows the many insignias that Disney artists made for various military sections, factories, bases and battalions.  The artwork here is amazing and colorful. Incredibly, Disney artists made these for free.

After you finish with the exhibit, I highly recommend checking out the rest of the Museum of Flight.  The Great Gallery has several aircraft including a replica of the Wright Brothers plane, an SR-71 Blackbird, and more. 

Adjacent to the Great hall is the Apollo exhibit about the Space Race.

In the Personal Courage Wing, there is the amazing “Untold Stories: World War II at 75” exhibit.  This gallery has many WWII aircraft and other artifacts of the war.  It is a great augmentation to the Disney exhibit which gives real stories of the pilots, the crews and the aircraft of this time period.  I especially liked seeing the P-38 Lightning and Vought F4U Corsair.

There are numerous other displays in the museum that you should check out, too. Today, I just covered a few of my favorites. The Disney exhibit is included with the price of admission to the Museum of Flight.  You can find all sorts of information, including admission prices, hours and location at the Museum of Flights website. One thing to note is that photography is not allowed in the Disney exhibit, but allowed in other parts of the museum. And although the Disney exhibit merchandise was not in stock at the time of my visit, it should be soon.

I want to thank the Museum of Flight for inviting me out to the preview of “The Walt Disney Studios and World War II” exhibit.  I had not been there for a long time and it was great to see it again.  I am thinking about going back and taking my Dad to see the museum later this year.  I believe it is worth taking the whole family to see.  This is especially true if they have an interest in aircraft, the Space Program, WWII, and/or Disney.  

Let’s Hear From You

Have you checked out the “The Walt Disney Studios and World War II” exhibit before? Were you expecting a crossover between the world of Disney history and WWII? Does the Seattle Museum of Flight pique your interest in learning more about Disney’s contribution to WWII efforts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Editor’s Note: Our deepest thanks to Anthony Cooper for this wonderful article. Anthony lives in Washington, so he does not get to the Disney parks often. To pass the time, he goes to comic conventions, takes cosplay photography, and gets his Disney experiences however he can.

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