Air Force Museum

Sunday was much the same kind of day as Saturday was - chilly, rainy, gray. We needed to find an indoor event or place to visit, so we chose the Air Force Museum in Dayton. It turned out to be exactly a one-hour drive from home, so we arrived about 1:45 and stayed until it closed at 5 p.m. It's such an enormous place, and there's so much to see, that we barely made it through all three hangars by closing time. Next time, we need to go in nice weather so we can also tour the outdoor exhibits and planes - we missed that this time around.

The three hangars represent the early years of flight (up to and including WW II); the Korean and Vietnam era; and present day flight, including the space program. I have no idea how many planes are in the buildings all together, but everywhere you look there are planes, planes and more planes; wing to wing, on the floor, and many smaller aircraft suspended from the high ceilings. There were also some special exhibits - an art show, a Bob Hope display, a Holocaust survivors memorial, and a depiction of life during the Cold War. It seemed that, for every display that I stopped to look and and read about, there were 2 or 3 that I missed. Too much information to take in on one visit! We'll definitely go back sooner this time - it's been years since we were there before, and since it's free admission (yes, as in No Charge to get in!) we should go more often.

What did I find most interesting? I love WWI and WWII history, so the first hangar is always my favorite. The planes are smaller, more colorful and tend to feel less intimidating, whereas the aircraft from the 1950's to the present are much more massive, more powerful and somehow more scary to me. The other thoughts that I had: how did they get all these planes into these hangars without crashing into one another?? How did they get the B-52 bomber up on cement blocks, for Pete's sake?? How did they suspend the aircraft from the ceilings? Every once in a while, I had a quick thought along the lines of "what would happen if that plane fell right now?" and I had to quickly stop thinking about it! And I'm always amazed when I think about how those huge bombers and jets are able to get enough airspeed to actually get off the ground! (I know, I'm easily amazed and amused, aren't I?! I hear you.) Oh, and the last thing that was somewhat curious - an Amish family wandering the exhibits, studying the dispays. They looked very out of place against the missiles and the fighter jets in the last hangar.