This piece originally ran in the February 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.

In 1940, Smithsonian employee Paul Garber produced an exhibit highlighting the various Allied and Axis aircraft then fighting in World War II. His display caught the attention of the U.S. Navy, who commissioned Garber to produce training aids for aircraft recognition. This kite, printed with the silhouette of a Japanese A6M Zero, was one such aid developed for target practice with more than 300,000 produced. Garber later became the first director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.