Dayton Ohio USAF Museum Visit

[Pyroflash]

So, over the past two days I went down to Dayton Ohio to visit the National Museum of The United States Air Force. Over the two days I was there, I saw a LOT of different aircraft, and got introduced to a whole new world of history that I never new existed. Hundreds of aircraft throughout history are located at the base, meticulously maintained in pristine condition for generations to come, and staffed entirely by volunteers. The museum contains virtually every single military aircraft that one could care to think of which served in the USAF, USAAF, and USASC. Each aircraft at the museum has a semi-detailed history printed beside the plane, and being able to get so close (but don't touch them, they don't like that) to them really adds to the sense that you are part of something greater.

 

When I say two days, what I really mean is one day too short. This museum is big. Three massive hangars in the main museum, and when I saw massive, please do not take my words lightly. These hangars are large enough to fit a whole squadron of B-52's inside of them with room to spare. And speaking of B-52's, the modern/korean war exhibit is dominated by two extremely massive aircraft parked face to face with each other (a highly polished B-52 on the left side, and a shiny metallic C-124 on the right).

 

But let me digress, let me start this at the entrance. So you drive up to the entrance, and on the right in the memorial park. This park honors the many soldiers in aviation who fought to make this country what is is today. And while they aren't buried there, it is sobering to be in the presence of so many souls who came before you, to pioneer aviation and secure the place of the USAF as one of today's most powerful air forces.

 

Coming into the entrance in the main foyer, there are three desks and a single large glass display in the middle of the room. The three desks are all staffed by extremely knowledgeable and helpful volunteers. They each provide different services, one for tickets to the IMAX (which shows the Red Flag, Rescue, and Hubble shows one after the other), one for the membership table (I didn't check this one out in detail since no membership is required to partake in any of the exhibits), and the last table is for information (there is a LOT of this to be had here).

 

Moving on into the shop, you can see quite a few items for sale. Some of them are museum specific, some are USAF general items. There is also a large selection of books and models relating to military aviation on the right(I bought a book on the ol' Warthog of course).

 

Coming out of the store, you are faced with two paths. On the left you have the World War II exhibit. On the right you have the Early Years/ WWI exhibit. Of course I went to the biplanes exhibit first, I mean who wouldn't want to see all of the purdy little 80 BHP planes. The first thing here is some VERY old stuff, including the Wright windtunnel that was used for testing the first powered aircraft. from right to left as you circle around the exhibit, you see history unfold around you. On almost every wall, there is a panel of some sort depicting many famous events and persons in history, such as the first gun fired from an aircraft, or the first person to suffer from the effects of the adiabatic lapse rate (it gets colder at higher altitudes). And of course there are the aircraft. And these aircraft and engines (there are a LOT of engine displays, which showcase different propulsion systems from many different aircraft) come from almost every conceivable nook and cranny on this planet. The French, Italians, Americans, Germans, British, almost everyone who built combat aircraft during or before WWI is represented here.At the end of the Bi-planes exhibit you begin to see the start of modern aviation with the last aircraft in this exhibit being the venerable Hurricane Mk.IIa.

 

Coming out of the other side here, you see the holocaust exhibit, with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Makes One Free" scrawled on the front. Which is a call back to the same words printed on the gate of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau in Germany. This particular exhibit takes you through the horrible conditions surrounding the German WWII concentration camps, and contains pictures and videos that really hit home (although don't come expecting any severely gruesome imagery, this is a more or less PG museum, except for certain parts which I will get to later).

 

Out of the Holocaust exhibit you enter the era of a fighting man's fighter. P-40's and MXY-7's, Thunderbolts and Spitfires. This exhibit has a little less in the way of wall panels (which only decrease as you make your way through the later years), but that is alright, as it more than makes up for it in some of the most beautiful aircraft that you will ever see, with all of the included fantastic nose art. Including one little piece of work B-24 Liberator which has a scantily clad woman strewn across the nose of this beast of an aircraft, nicknamed Strawberry B*tch. This Strawberry Tart is also famous, as she is the very last B-24 to be flown by the USAF, albeit to its final resting place there in Dayton.

 

But we can't stay in one place forever right? And so we move on down the hall to.. a Bob Hope exhibit? Yes, honored for his 50 years of entertaining deployed service members, who but Bob Hope would have his own exhibit right in the middle of the Air Force Museum. it showcases all of his different achievements as an entertainer, and how he gave soldiers at war a little bit of Hope.

 

"Okay yeah, Bob Hope, but we wanna see some aircraft!" Well, in a little bit.. Jeez you guys sure are impatient.. First we have to go into the Hall of Fame. This is a relatively small area, and within it is contained many panels of important people in aviation history, many without which modern aviation would not even exist. Indeed here you are among great men and women, from test pilots to daredevils to engineers. All of them pioneers in their respective fields. But those are only the walls, in the middle there are plenty of exhibits showing off aviation to children, with hands on examples of the physics and power of aviation.

 

 

Okay, now we get to the cool stuff. The Modern/Korea exhibit is a masterpiece of a whole generation plus some of vintage aircraft. Everything from the F-22A to the Mig-15 Bis is shown here, and all of it is simply amazing. Hanging above you when you enter are the ominous silhouettes of two large unmanned aircraft systems, one of them the unarmed RQ-4 Global Hawk with its massive wingspan, and on the right the heavily armed (Two GBU-12's and four AGM-114K Hellfire II missiles) RQ-9 Reaper. Indeed menacing sights these two drones are, however one can't be helped but to be drawn eyes forward at the other end of the hangar. And there is good reason for this as well, because staring you down from its perch next to the door is the most deadly fighter in existence, the F-22A Raptor. Shown in all its glory, with AIM-9X's in its side weapons bays, and the stealth to make sure no one sees them coming. One of the two F119 engines powering this monster is even pulled out and sat right next to the aircraft for the public to examine. But don't look up! The bird of prey tech demonstrator is hanging right above you!.

 

 

Exiting the exhibit (modern planes and Korean War stuff is nice, but what happened in between?), I am stopped at a gate by a few Russian border guards. Okay, well I wasn't stopped per-se, however the sign did have the words Стоп! printed on it. In fact, the entire hallway here is a a whole dedication to after-war Berlin, and the reconstruction efforts undertaken to restore the city (including dog parachutes, although I have no idea what these did for the reconstruction).

 

 

And out of the tunnel and in to the light, or so one would like to think. Instead one is faced with some grim realities as the light is blocked out on almost all sides by a giant (at least 60') depiction of a thermonuclear detonation in the center, and the ominous black hole of the B-2A Spirit stealth bomber on the left. To the right there is not much there except for aircraft, aircraft, and more aircraft. And as one moves around this hangar, there are many spectacles from the A-10A to the F-16A (okay, well I have to give this shows to the BMS guys here, you can sit in the cockpit of an F-16A in this one). Even the Russians can find something here, and the menacing beige and green paint of a RuAF MiG-29A is sat there, and even sitting still it looks pretty deadly!

 

 

So, we near the close of the tour with the missile and space exhibit. This one is fantastic, it is a two story exhibit containing actual missiles and re-entry vehicles from the United States and Russia. The missiles are absolutely gigantic. they are at least eight stories tall, and you can see just what kind of power, both to change the world and to end it, that they hold. It is simply breathtaking.

 

 

Okay, I'm sorry to say this, but I have to stop here. I can't take people on tours of buildings that don't exist, and as the museum ends here, so must this tale.

 

 

Oh? There are two more hangars in the main base filled with aircraft? Well then, I guess that makes me a liar, and this thread a little bit longer.

 

 

So I go to the desk for the guided tours of the remaining two exhibits. They ask to see my ID (it is on an active duty military base, so they need some proof of identification), and slap a wristband that gives me a group number and they tell me to sit in this auditorium. About ten minutes before the tour guide was supposed to start giving us information though, a group of heavily armed PJ's came in, blindfolded us, and dragged us into helicopters waiting outside.

 

 

Oh, that's not what happened? Sorry, sometimes my imagination gets the best of me. No, actually both of the tour guides were really nice (I went back twice to take some pictures that I couldn't get in the first hour I was there), and led us into a big blue bus which took us onto the active duty base. We weren't allowed to take any pictures on the base however, and were warned that it was illegal. So the bus stops, and the cameras come out (we were however allowed to take all the pictures we wanted of the stuff inside of the hangar). To the right is the experimental hangar. This is where the serious R&D stuff is. the whole room is dominated by one extremely large and particularly pointy six engine XB-70, which just barely fits across the hangar (the pitot tube stops maybe three feet from the front door). Underneath it however, is an array of amazing looking aircraft including one YF-23A which is also, quite massive. In fact, I could go on for literally ages about all of the cool and innovative experimental aircraft that the USAF and NASA has cooped up in there.

 

 

And for the final room on the right we have Air Force One(s). Yeah, there are a lot of them here. From the modified B-29 to a 707, this hangar has presidential style written all over it, and the flair to magnificence in these aircraft is apparent. The insides of these behemoths are sights to behold, and from seeing what went on inside the 707, I begin to imagine just how comfortable (and serious) the insides of the 747 are. Although probably the coolest thing in the hangar was the vault. In the back, away from all the aircraft, is a single lone vault, in which were stored the top secret bomb sights to be fitted on our bombers. Only the bombardiers were allowed to sign one out, and at the end of the day, they had to sign them back in where they were locked away again for another day.

 

Okay, I swear, this really is the end this time, and I thank you for reading this far. In fact, for a treat, I have a little present for you guys. I took over 1000 12 MP 16:9 camera shots of almost every single aircraft from the Early Years, WWII, Modern/Korea, Experimental, and Presidential hangars, and will give out shots of particular aircraft to anyone who requests them (just send a PM to me with your E-mail in the text, or contact me over Skype). Sadly I did not have enough time to take shots of any aircraft from the Cold War or Missile exhibits, and for that I really apologize, however two days is just not enough time to both enjoy the exhibits and take pictures of everything. Rest assured though, I am going back this summer, and if anyone wants any pictures of the modern/missile exhibits then, I will be more than happy to provide them to you. Until then, see you in the skies!

 

Oh yeah, and here is the virtual tour in case anyone definitely can't go for real http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/full/tour-std.html (You totally should, there were even some Russian people there, and they thought it was really neat).

Edited March 11, 2012 by Pyroflash

[asparagin]

Beautifully done virtual tour!

[Luigi Gorgonzola]

Still taking the virtual tour - amazing. Thanks for your writup and the link! :)

[Yurgon]

Great post! I got lost in the virtual tour for about an hour already, that's really fantastic.