Intrepid Museum, New York: visitor's guide

Flight plan

Getting there from Britain

The way there: the great-circle track from Heathrow, the shortest line on a curved earth, drawn on a flat chart.

From Heathrow: 3,450 miles
Nearest airport: New York JFK (JFK) or Newark (EWR), about an hour by road or rail
Local time: Eastern time, five hours behind London
Allow: Four hours to a day

Visit

Tickets & opening times

Admission

General admission: adults (13–64) $38; seniors (65+) and college students with ID $36; children (5–12) $28; children 4 and under free; US veterans and serving military free with ID (20% off for spouses of active-duty personnel). NYC residents (five-borough ID or utility statement) get 50% off general admission for the whole household. Admission covers Intrepid, the Space Shuttle Pavilion, the submarine Growler and temporary exhibitions. The 20-minute Concorde tour is extra: $15 ($5 for members). Online tickets are timed.

Parking. No visitor car park and no parking validation: this is Midtown Manhattan. The M50 bus (49th/50th Streets) stops right in front of the pier, and the M42 and M34 crosstown buses run to 12th Avenue. By subway, take the A, C, E, N, Q, R, S, 1, 2, 3 or 7 to 42nd Street and walk west (or take the M42) to 12th Avenue, then north to 46th Street; the 7 to 34th St–Hudson Yards is another option. The nearest NYC Ferry landing is Midtown West (Pier 79, W 39th St), 10–15 minutes' walk south.

Food. Yes: Intrepid Marketplace (on the mess deck and on the pier) and the Aviator Grill (second floor of the Welcome Center) serve pizza, sandwiches, wraps, salads and soups, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options; vending machines on the pier and flight deck.

Access. Much of the carrier is reached by ramp or lift, including the hangar deck, flight deck and third deck, but the fo'c'sle and the island/bridge still need stairs and steep ladders, and parts of both decks are uneven. Growler is not wheelchair-accessible: visitors must be at least 40in tall and able to pass unaided through a replica hatch (the Cold War exhibit on the pier is accessible). The Concorde tour involves stairs. No wheelchairs for loan; folding stools are free from the Information Desk. No toilets on the flight deck. A Sensory Guide and the Bloomberg Connects app describe each area.

Checked against the museum’s own site, 28 October 2026.

Opening times

Fall and winter (1 Oct–31 Mar): daily including holidays 10:00–17:00. Spring and summer (1 Apr–30 Sep): Mon–Fri 10:00–17:00; Sat, Sun and holidays 10:00–18:00. Last entry one hour before closing. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Online tickets are timed to a 30-minute arrival window; the Growler line may close early, and hours can change for events.

Day	Oct–Mar	Apr–Sep
Monday	10am–5pm	10am–5pm
Tuesday	10am–5pm	10am–5pm
Wednesday	10am–5pm	10am–5pm
Thursday	10am–5pm	10am–5pm
Friday	10am–5pm	10am–5pm
Saturday	10am–5pm	10am–6pm
Sunday	10am–5pm	10am–6pm

Hours in local time, from the museum’s site, 28 October 2026.

Station briefing

About this museum

An Essex-class aircraft carrier tied up at the end of West 46th Street, carrying a Space Shuttle, a CIA spy plane and the fastest Concorde of them all. USS Intrepid (CV-11) fought from Truk to Okinawa, soaked up kamikazes, hunted Soviet submarines, went three times to Vietnam and fished two NASA crews out of the Atlantic; since 1982 she has been a museum on the Hudson. The hangar deck holds the ship's history and a restored Corsair, the flight deck a park of some two dozen naval jets and helicopters with Manhattan's towers as backdrop, and a pavilion aft shelters the orbiter Enterprise. Alongside lies Growler, the only American nuclear-missile submarine open to the public, and on the pier sits British Airways' G-BOAD. Allow a day, bring a jumper for the flight deck wind, and do not skip the bridge.

~18Fighters & attack~2Patrol, AEW & reconnaissance~6Helicopters~3Research & spacecraft~1Airliners & transports~3Trainers

Prize exhibits

Concorde G-BOAD, Atlantic record holder at 2h 52m 59s
Lockheed A-12 60-6925, CIA Oxcart spy plane
Space Shuttle Enterprise OV-101, the first orbiter
USS Growler, the only US nuclear-missile sub open to visitors
Grumman F-14 157986, the seventh Tomcat built

Star of the show

British Airways Concorde G-BOAD 'Alpha Delta', holder of the fastest Atlantic crossing by a commercial aircraft: JFK to Heathrow in 2 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds on 7 February 1996, a Guinness record that still stands.

Visitor intel

Tickets are timed to a 30-minute arrival slot, so book online and arrive on time; the Concorde tour ($15, 20 minutes, every half hour from 11:00, ages 5+) has limited places and is best added at booking. Growler has a capped capacity and its queue can close early, so do it first. Allow four to five hours for carrier, pavilion, submarine and Concorde; weekdays outside school holidays are quietest, and the neighbouring cruise terminal at Piers 88–90 can make 12th Avenue busy on ship days.

The story

How the collection came to be

USS Intrepid was the fifth Essex-class carrier to be launched, at Newport News on 26 April 1943, and was commissioned on 16 August 1943. She went straight to the Pacific. During the Truk raids of February 1944 an aerial torpedo struck her stern, but she was back for the Philippines campaign. At Leyte Gulf on 24 October 1944 her scouts found Admiral Kurita's Centre Force, and her Helldivers and Avengers opened the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, putting the first torpedo into the super-battleship Musashi, which sank that evening. The museum counts five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike in her war: a kamikaze hit a port gun position on 29 October 1944, two more crashed aboard on 25 November killing 69 men, a 'Betty' exploded alongside on 18 March 1945, and another dived into the flight deck off Okinawa on 16 April. She earned five battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.

Decommissioned in 1947, she returned in 1952 for the SCB-27C jet-age rebuild and in the later 1950s the SCB-125 angled deck and enclosed 'hurricane bow' at the New York Navy Yard. Reclassified as an anti-submarine carrier (CVS-11) in December 1961, she became NASA's recovery ship twice: her helicopters picked up Scott Carpenter after Aurora 7 splashed down on 24 May 1962, and on 23 March 1965 she recovered John Young and Gus Grissom from Gemini 3, 'Molly Brown'. Between April 1966 and February 1969, with Carrier Air Wing 10 aboard, she made three deployments to Vietnam as a stand-in attack carrier, her Skyhawks and Skyraiders launched at 26-second intervals. She finished her career on NATO anti-submarine cruises in the North Atlantic and was decommissioned for the last time on 15 March 1974.

The scrapyard beckoned until the New York property developer Zachary Fisher took up her cause. He set up the Intrepid Museum Foundation in March 1978 and gave more than $25 million over his lifetime. The ship was towed to Pier 86, soft-opened on 4 July 1982 and opened formally on 3 August 1982. The submarine Growler (SSG-577), a Regulus cruise-missile boat of 1958, joined in 1988 and opened in May 1989; and in November 2003 Concorde G-BOAD was barged up the Hudson after its final flight from Heathrow on 10 November.

On 1 October 2006 the museum closed for a refit of ship and pier. Twenty-four years of silt held her fast on the first attempt on 6 November; after dredging she was towed to Bayonne, New Jersey on 5 December, dry-docked in 2007, refitted at Staten Island and returned to Pier 86 in October 2008 for a reopening on 8 November, at a cost of roughly $115 million. Concorde spent the interval at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

In 2012 NASA allocated the prototype orbiter Enterprise (OV-101) to the museum. She flew over New York on her 747 carrier on 27 April, was barged to the pier in June and opened in the new Space Shuttle Pavilion on 19 July 2012. Hurricane Sandy deflated the pavilion that October and damaged the orbiter; it reopened in July 2013. G-BOAD went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for restoration in 2023 and returned to the pier on 14 March 2024, and in October 2024 a Goodyear FG-1D Corsair arrived to become the centrepiece of a hangar-deck exhibition opened in March 2025.

Across the water

The British connection

The obvious one sits on the pier: Concorde G-BOAD (c/n 210), on loan from British Airways. 'Alpha Delta' flew more hours than any other Concorde (23,397) and set the record that still stands for a commercial aircraft across the Atlantic, JFK to Heathrow in 2 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds on 7 February 1996. In the late 1970s she carried Singapore Airlines colours on one side for the joint service to Singapore. After her last flight, Heathrow to JFK on 10 November 2003, she was floated past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson on a barge. On the flight deck is a Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier, BuNo 159232, one of the Kingston-designed jump jets the US Marine Corps bought from Britain in 1970–71; it is on loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps. The Italian MB-339 is Rolls-Royce Viper-powered. Until 2012 the deck also held a Royal Navy Supermarine Scimitar (XD220), moved to the Empire State Aerosciences Museum to make room for Enterprise. The Royal Navy never operated an Essex-class carrier, but Intrepid knew British waters: on her 1971 NATO cruise she called at Plymouth, Greenock, Rosyth and Portsmouth, and in 1972 at Portsmouth and Gourock.

Where to see Concorde in Britain Concorde in The Hangar The carrier experience at Yeovilton

Prize exhibits

8 airframes not to miss

Hangar profile
BAC/Aérospatiale Concorde 102
G-BOAD
c/n 210, registered to BAC in May 1975 and built in 1976, 'Alpha Delta' flew 23,397 hours, the most of any Concorde, with 8,406 landings. In the late 1970s she wore Singapore Airlines colours on one side for the joint service. On 7 February 1996 she ran JFK to Heathrow in 2 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds, still the transatlantic record for an airliner. Retired to New York on 10 November 2003 and barged to Pier 86, she was restored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2023–24.
Turn it in 3D Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde in Britain
Coming soonThe Hangar · queue No. 24Being drawn
Lockheed A-12
60-6925
Article 122, the second A-12 built for the CIA's Project Oxcart, the single-seat Mach 3 forerunner of the SR-71. Early in 1962 it served as the radar-test airframe at Groom Lake, Nevada, its titanium skin under radar-absorbent black paint. A-12s flew 24 missions over Hanoi and Haiphong and three over North Korea after the Pueblo seizure in 1968. This one reached Intrepid in 1991 and has stood on the flight deck since, now the subject of a 17-section repaint.
Next in The Hangar
Coming soonThe Hangar · queue No. 12Being drawn
Rockwell Space Shuttle orbiter
OV-101 Enterprise
Rolled out at Palmdale on 17 September 1976, before Star Trek's cast, Enterprise was never fitted for space. Released from NASA's 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, she flew five free glides in the 1977 Approach and Landing Tests that proved an orbiter could land on a runway. She later served for ground tests and was displayed at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center from 1985 to 2011. She arrived at Intrepid in June 2012 and was damaged when Hurricane Sandy collapsed her pavilion that October.
Next in The Hangar
Regulus missile submarine
USS Growler (SSG-577)
A diesel-electric boat commissioned in 1958 to carry nuclear-armed Regulus cruise missiles in hangars forward, Growler made strategic deterrent patrols in the early Cold War before Polaris boats took over the role. She is the only American nuclear-missile submarine open to the public. Berthed beside Pier 86 since 1988 and opened in May 1989, she went to Bayonne with Intrepid in 2006, and a restoration was completed in 2024. A Regulus missile sits on deck.
Coming soonThe Hangar · queue No. 16Being drawn
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
157986
The seventh Tomcat built, delivered among the pre-production test aircraft in the early 1970s and used, in the museum's words, as the prototype for all later improvements to the series; Wikipedia records its use in 1973 as a 'Super Tomcat' prototype. On loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum, it shows the variable-sweep wing and the weapon system designed around the AIM-54 Phoenix, which let one Tomcat engage six targets at once.
Next in The Hangar
Hangar profile
Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier
159232
c/n 712141, one of the 110 AV-8A Harriers the US Marine Corps bought from Britain in 1970–71, later upgraded to AV-8C standard with a radar-warning receiver, chaff dispensers and structural work before re-entering service in 1979. It is displayed in VMA-231 markings as 'NM-601' and dedicated to Capt. Manuel Rivera Jr., USMC. On loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps, it is the flight deck's one British-designed combat jet.
Turn it in 3D Harrier family in Britain
Hangar profile
Goodyear FG-1D Corsair
92013
Built by Goodyear and lent by the National Naval Aviation Museum, this Corsair arrived from Washington on the night of 1 October 2024. It never flew from Intrepid, but the museum's restorers repainted it as the aircraft of Alfred Lerch of VF-10, an Intrepid pilot who became an 'ace in a day' by downing seven enemy aircraft in one day and received the Navy Cross. It has been the centrepiece of the hangar-deck exhibition since 21 March 2025.
Turn it in 3D Vought Corsair in Britain
Coming soonThe Hangar · queue No. 25Being drawn
McDonnell F-4N Phantom II
150628
A Navy Phantom rebuilt to F-4N standard and flown by Marine squadron VMFA-323, which was on combat standby during Operation Eagle Claw, the failed Iranian hostage-rescue attempt of 24 April 1980. On loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum, it represents the big two-seat fighter-bomber that flew Navy, Marine and Air Force combat missions throughout the Vietnam War, where VF-96's Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll became the first aces of the conflict.
Next in The Hangar McDonnell Douglas Phantom in Britain

Walking order

The halls, in order

Welcome Center and pierTickets, the Aviator Grill and the start of the walk along Pier 86 beside the ship.
Hangar deckIntrepid's history from 1943 to today, the FG-1D Corsair and TBM Avenger, the Exploreum hands-on hall and the simulators.
Mess deck and below decksCrew living spaces restored to their 1969 appearance, with the Intrepid Marketplace.
Flight deckSome two dozen jets and helicopters, from the A-12 and F-14 to the Harrier and MiGs, with the Midtown skyline behind.
Island and bridgeUp steep ladders to the navigation bridge, primary flight control and the captain's quarters.
Space Shuttle PavilionEnterprise under a pavilion at the aft end of the flight deck, with the Soyuz TMA-6 descent module.
Submarine GrowlerA tight walk through the Regulus missile submarine moored beside the pier, with a Cold War exhibit alongside.
Concorde (pier)British Airways G-BOAD on the pier, seen from outside free and inside on the paid 20-minute tour.

Beyond the halls

Flights, tours & extras

Concorde Tour

20-minute guided visit aboard BA Concorde G-BOAD on the pier, every 30 minutes from 11:00; $15 ($5 members), on top of general admission. Minimum age 5; involves stairs.

Submarine Growler

Walk through the Regulus missile submarine USS Growler (SSG-577), including its missile command centre; included in general admission. Minimum height 40in; no bags or strollers; queue may close early.

Space Shuttle Pavilion

Prototype orbiter Enterprise (OV-101) under a pavilion on the flight deck, with a Soyuz TMA-6 descent module; included in general admission.

Simulators and VR

G-Force Encounter flight simulator $13 and Apollo 11 & Beyond VR experience $13 ($8 members each).

3D and 4D films

Stories of Intrepid: 4D Experience $11 ($8 members); Journey to Space and Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas 3D films $11 each ($5 members).

Museum Highlights Tour

Guided tour of the ship's service history with an expert guide; $18 ($10 members). Private VIP tours from $750 for up to ten people.

Exploreum Hall

Hands-on hangar-deck gallery with a Bell 47 helicopter to climb into and a mock A-6 Intruder cockpit; included in general admission.

Free Movie Nights

Free outdoor films on the flight deck on summer Fridays; 2027 dates published as 22 May (Top Gun), 25 June, 30 July and 27 August. Only the flight deck is open on these evenings.

Fleet Week

The museum is the hub of Fleet Week New York each year, normally late May; 2027 dates not yet announced.

Photographs

At the museum

The grey aircraft carrier Intrepid moored on the Hudson, its island superstructure at left and jets parked along the flight deck — **USS Intrepid at Pier 86 with aircraft on her flight deck, 2019**Stefan Kemmerling · CC BY-SA 4.0

White British Airways Concorde with Union flag tail standing on the pier beside the Hudson River — **British Airways Concorde G-BOAD on Pier 86, 2023**Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0

Black Lockheed A-12 spy plane seen nose-on on the carrier's flight deck with Manhattan towers behind — **Lockheed A-12 60-6925 on the flight deck, 2023**Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nose and cockpit windows of the white and grey orbiter Enterprise lit inside its dark pavilion — **Space Shuttle Enterprise in the Space Shuttle Pavilion, 2023**Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0

View along the carrier's flight deck with rows of jets, the island and Midtown skyscrapers under a blue sky — **Intrepid's flight deck and island with displayed aircraft, 2010**chensiyuan · CC BY-SA 4.0

Grey Grumman F-14 Tomcat with wings swept forward on the flight deck of Intrepid — **Grumman F-14 Tomcat 157986, the seventh built, 2010**Eric Salard · CC BY-SA 2.0

Grey US Marine Corps Harrier jump jet on the flight deck of Intrepid — **Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier 159232 in VMA-231 markings, 2016**Alan Wilson · CC BY-SA 2.0

Panoramic view down onto the long dark hull of the submarine Growler with its missile hangar and Regulus missile — **Submarine Growler (SSG-577) moored beside Pier 86, 2014**ChrisRuvolo · CC BY-SA 3.0

Freely licensed photographs from Wikimedia Commons, credited to their photographers.

In The Hangar

The collection in profile

11 types held here that we have drawn and built in 3D. Choose one to turn it over, or see all 301 in The Hangar.

Questions

Before you book

Is Intrepid Museum free?

No. General admission: adults (13–64) $38; seniors (65+) and college students with ID $36; children (5–12) $28; children 4 and under free; US veterans and serving military free with ID (20% off for spouses of active-duty personnel). NYC residents (five-borough ID or utility statement) get 50% off general admission for the whole household. Admission covers Intrepid, the Space Shuttle Pavilion, the submarine Growler and temporary exhibitions. The 20-minute Concorde tour is extra: $15 ($5 for members). Online tickets are timed.

What are the opening hours?

How far is it from London?

About 3,450 miles from Heathrow as the great circle flies. The nearest airport is New York JFK (JFK) or Newark (EWR), about an hour by road or rail. Local time is Eastern time, five hours behind London.

How long should I allow?

Four hours for the carrier, the Space Shuttle Pavilion and the submarine; longer with a Concorde tour.

How many aircraft are there?

About 30 in the collection. The checklist on this page lists 33 of them by serial.

Order of battle

Airframe checklist

33 airframes on display, compiled on 28 October 2026 from the museum’s own listings and the published sources below. Collections move: aircraft go out on loan, into restoration or into the reserve hangar, so check the labels as you go.

Seen	Type	Serial / registration
	Grumman/Eastern TBM-3E Avenger	53842
	Goodyear FG-1D Corsair	92013
	Douglas XBT2D-1 Dauntless II (AD-1 Skyraider)	09102
	Douglas A-4B Skyhawk	142833
	Grumman A-6 Intruder (museum: A-6E; A-6F test airframe)	162185
	North American FJ-3 Fury	135868
	Grumman F9F-8 (AF-9J) Cougar	141117
	Grumman F11F-1 (F-11A) Tiger	141824
	McDonnell F3H-2N (F-3B) Demon	133566 (as marked)
	Douglas F4D-1 (F-6A) Skyray	134836
	Vought F-8K Crusader	145550
	PZL-Mielec Lim-5 (MiG-17F)	—
	Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PFM	4105 (Polish AF)
	McDonnell F-4N Phantom II	150628
	Hawker Siddeley AV-8C Harrier	159232
	Grumman F-14 Tomcat (museum: F-14D Super Tomcat prototype)	157986
	IAI F-21A Kfir	—
	General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon	79-0403
	Grumman E-1B Tracer	147212
	Lockheed A-12	60-6925 (Article 122)
	Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever	128519
	Sikorsky HO4S-3G (H-19) Chickasaw	USCG 1308
	Bell UH-1A Iroquois	59-1621
	Sikorsky HH-52A Seaguard	USCG 1429
	Bell AH-1J Sea Cobra	159218
	Bell 47 (Exploreum)	—
	Aermacchi MB-339	MM54439
	Beech T-34 Mentor	N34Z
	Northrop T-38 Talon (NASA)	—
	BAC/Aérospatiale Concorde 102	G-BOAD
	Rockwell Space Shuttle orbiter Enterprise	OV-101
	Soyuz TMA-6 descent module	—
	Mercury capsule Aurora 7 (replica)	—

Contact

Location & contact

Address: Pier 86, West 46th Street and 12th Avenue, New York, NY 10036
Phone: +1 212-245-0072
Website: intrepidmuseum.org
Supplement: US-06 · North America

Facts checked against the museum’s own website on 28 October 2026. Sources: intrepidmuseum.org, intrepidmuseum.org, intrepidmuseum.org, intrepidmuseum.org, intrepidmuseum.org, intrepidmuseum.org. Corrections to mg@ub.io.