Monday, October 1, 2012

United States Air Force Museum

100_4081While we are in Ohio having some maintenance done to our motor home, we took the opportunity to explore a bit during the weekend.  We drove down to the Dayton, Ohio area and visited the Air Force Museum next to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.  We had visited there 20 years ago or so and had some vague memories of it, but it was almost is if we went for the first time.  If all of our full timing memories turn as vague over time we will have to start over and do all our travels yet again.

100_4071The facility houses an amazing collection of military aircraft.  It spans over a hundred years of aircraft from a Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk type plane which was the first military aircraft to near fully modern “stealth” planes.

 

100_4057Gary spent the most time looking over this particular plane.  It is a B58 Hustler.  It was an intercontinental supersonic bomber of the 1960s.  Gary grew up near Bunker Hill AFB, which became Grissom AFB, and is now an Air Reserves Field.  The base was one of two in the country which hosted these planes.  Gary said they often flew over the skies of the local farms dropping “shredded tin foil” practicing radar avoidance measures.  He said it was also a bit worrisome seeing all the apparent nuclear bomb storage facilities at the base and knowing what a target the area would have been in a conflict.  He said he was happy when that plane was scrapped in favor of missiles and submarines and the base went from Strategic Air Command to Tactical Air Command status.

Speaking of nuclear bombs, the museum houses a number of nuclear bomb canisters.  It is a somewhat stark reminder that we still live in a world where mutual shared destruction is still a reality.

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Our pictures from the Air Force Museum are at:  https://picasaweb.google.com/116107386675555024952/USAFMuseumDaytonOH

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