Summer 2017, Day 30: Museum of the US Air Force, Dayton Aviation History NHP

This morning we spotted this moth hiding on the pavement next to the RV:

Summer2017_Day30_001

Summer2017_Day30_002

We blew on it to get it to open its wings:

Summer2017_Day30_003

Summer2017_Day30_004

Our first stop today was the National Museum of the United States Air Force:

Summer2017_Day30_008

Summer2017_Day30_005

Summer2017_Day30_006

Summer2017_Day30_007

The museum houses one of the largest collections of aircraft in the world.  We didn’t have time to see it all:

Summer2017_Day30_009

An old wind tunnel for testing wing designs:

Summer2017_Day30_010

Summer2017_Day30_011

Summer2017_Day30_012

Summer2017_Day30_013

There’s a temporary holocaust exhibit in a hall that connects two aircraft galleries:

Summer2017_Day30_015

Summer2017_Day30_014

Summer2017_Day30_016

Summer2017_Day30_017

Summer2017_Day30_018

The goblet set used for the annual toast of the Doolittle Raiders:

Summer2017_Day30_019

Summer2017_Day30_020

Summer2017_Day30_021

Summer2017_Day30_022

Summer2017_Day30_023

Summer2017_Day30_024

The Kettering model aircraft collecton:

Summer2017_Day30_026

Summer2017_Day30_027

Summer2017_Day30_028

Summer2017_Day30_029

Summer2017_Day30_030

The business end of a XB-70 Valkyrie:

Summer2017_Day30_031

The Apollo 15 command module:

Summer2017_Day30_032

A training mock-up of the Space Shuttle:

Summer2017_Day30_033

The museum houses a number of presidential aircrafts, used by presidents Roosevelt through Kennedy:

Summer2017_Day30_034

Summer2017_Day30_035

Summer2017_Day30_036

Summer2017_Day30_037

Summer2017_Day30_038

Summer2017_Day30_039

Summer2017_Day30_040

The rocket gallery:

Summer2017_Day30_041

The Cold War gallery:

Summer2017_Day30_042

Summer2017_Day30_043

The only B-2 Spirit viewable by the public:

Summer2017_Day30_044

Summer2017_Day30_045

The Korean War gallery:

Summer2017_Day30_046

Summer2017_Day30_047

It was a great museum, and I’d love to spend more time there next time we’re through town.

Our next stop was the Huffman Prairie unit of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park:

Summer2017_Day30_048

Huffman Field is the location where the Wright Brothers continued their flight tests and design improvements after their initial successes at Kitty Hawk.  The visitor center was interesting:

Summer2017_Day30_049

Summer2017_Day30_050

Summer2017_Day30_051

Across from the visitor center was a Wright Brothers memorial:

Summer2017_Day30_052

Summer2017_Day30_053

After finishing our visit we continued east into Pennsylvania, overnighting at the Walmart of Clearfield.

See the alternating light blue line on the trip map for today’s drive.

Summer 2017, Day 29: Kentucky Derby Museum, Taft NHS
Summer 2017, Day 31: Delaware Water Gap NRA

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *