My kids are on Fall Break this week so we drove over to the US Air Force museum in Dayton, OH.
My son is a big history buff and really enjoyed it but my daughter wasn’t nearly as interested.
That place is huge, it’s over 1 million square feet with four interconnected buildings and they have just about everything there related to flight history. Basically if they don’t have it, the only other place you might be able to see it is the National Air and Space museum.
They have it divided into eras ranging from the Wright brothers right up to a B-2 bomber and an F-22, plus the entire range of US nuclear missiles and the space program.
They have the Wright flyer that was the first plane purchased by the US military and some of the fabric from the original Wright flyer from Kitty Hawk.
They have one of just about every plane used by all sides in WW I then go into the inter-war period when the focus was on speed records.
Their WW II collection is huge. The showcase of that collection is the original Memphis Belle and the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
In the Korean War section they have the first series of US jet fighters plus a couple of the first Russian Mig jets as well.
They have an entire section for the Cold War period with B-36 and a B-47 nuclear bombers. If any of you would happen to remember the old Jimmy Stewart movie “Strategic Air Command”, those are the planes featured in that movie.
Their section for the Viet Nam era has most of the helicopters, fighters, and of course a B-52. They also have the C-141 ‘Hanoi Taxi” which was the plane that flew out the first group of POW’s when they were released.
They have the missiles in a simulated missile silo.
They also have a Presidential section where they have the planes used by FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and the Air Force One that transported JFK to and from Dallas, and was used up through Nixon.
They also have the only XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber in existence as well as the only B-2 that is on display.
I know the pics aren’t that great, but it’s kinda hard to get a good pic of things that big.
Thumper, they did have a display that might interest you. They have a lot of displays honoring Air Force personnel who were awarded the MOH or Air Force Cross, and one was for a nurse who rescued several of the kids from the plane that crashed during Operation Baby Lift. I know you’ve mentioned having some involvement in the recovery after the crash.
All in all a good trip and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in aviation history.
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