The Air Force Museum is located six miles northeast of Dayton, Ohio, at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
It is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world. It is open from 9 am to 5 pm every day
except for the three major holidays. Best of all, the admission is FREE!
Over 300 aircraft and missiles are on display, mostly inside three VERY large hangers. About 40 aircraft are also
parked outside. The gift shop has every imaginable book, poster, game or jewelry associated with aviation. There
is also a 500 seat IMAX theater and a cafeteria. All of these facilities are operated by the Air Force Foundation, and
the resulting revenues are used to offset the operating costs.
PERSONAL NOTE: There were three Piper aircraft on display!
The Museum is both a photographer's delight and nightmare; delightful because of the rare historic
displays, but devilish because of the crowed conditions, both of the displays and the people. Every major display
is accompied by a large sign with describes the display. I try to take both a picture of the display and its sign, and
then match them up when viewing the entire experience. I did not include any signs among the 16 major
thumbnails, but there is at least one on pBase to give the viewer an example.
Be sure to buy the 216 page The Air Force Museum for $8.00. It contains over 500 black and white pictures of exhibits.
It also contains the stories behind many of the exhibits, like the day in 1990 when 20,000 people showed up
just to see the landing of a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, now on exhibit!
I made another visit on March 21, 2003, and major construction efforts are underway to increase the display space
by 50%. It should be done by late April, although all the exhibits are still viewable. The air show, slated for the
weekend of July 19, 2003, promises to be 'spectacular'.
