The National Museum of the Air Force
The museum is located next to Wright Patterson Air Force base, which was about a 20 minute drive from where I was staying. I got to there just as they opened at 9AM. Now, I only planned to stay a day there, but you could easily spend a few days there to see all of the exhibits. I was absolutely blown away by how great the museum was. The quality and comprehensiveness of the exhibits is unmatched; but as discussed in this thread, it’s the details that set this museum apart from the other aviation museums.
I took quite a few pictures, but I won’t inundate y’all with all of ‘em. Just some of my favorites. I do apologize in advance for the quality of some the pictures. It’s quite dim inside the museum. Needless to say, it’s not conducive environment for picture taking.
Before the Wright Brothers built and flew Wright Flyer, forever changing the course of human history, they were bike makers in Dayton. This is some of their handy work:
Wright Bike
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk in the distinctive Flying Tigers colors
North American B-25 Mitchell
The B-25 was medium bomber, perhaps most famous for its role in the Doolittle Raid. Speaking of which, if you look to the left of the above picture, you can see two figures standing there.
Yep, it’s the “great little man” himself, Jimmy Doolittle. As I mentioned earlier, what sets this museum apart from other museums are details like this. In this case, a scene from preparation of the Doolittle raid was depicted.
Mitsubishi Zero
Bell P-39 Airacobra
de Havilland DH 98 Mosquito
The Mosquito was a British fighter known for its speed and unique construction (entirely of wood). It was used the US Army Air Force as a photo reconnaissance aircraft.
D-Day “invasion stripes” being painted on the Mosquito
Lockheed P-38J Lightning. IMHO the most gorgeous fighter of its time.
4 of the 8 .50 caliber machine guns of the P-47, with a 500 pound bomb slung under its swing
Martin B-26 Marauder
North American P-51D Mustang
The famous license built 1600 horsepower V-12 Rolls Royce engine powering the Mustang
A very rare Me 262
To the left, part of the vertical stabilizer of a B-17 shot down over Germany. To the right, the twin .50 caliber tail mounted machine guns of a B-17
Display honoring Major Thomas McGuire, the USAAF second leading ace of WWII. To the top right is his Medal of Honor
An Italian Macchi MC-200 Saetta
Northrop P-61 Black Widow
The 8th Air Force’s D-Day Orders
Last edited by dat4life; Apr 20, 2013 at 6:17 pm