The National Museum of the Air Force.

[lucas80]

Mrs. Lucas and I stopped in Dayton to visit this museum on Tuesday. It’s a wonderful museum. We spent five hours there and we easily could have spent another five. There are four hangers filled with some of the most important aircraft in the history of the US, and some from other nations. We came across a Waco glider, which is the same kind that Mrs. Lucas grandfather went into Normandy in the first wave of D-Day. There is a B-17 propeller that an Iowa vet recovered from the wreckage of his plane after waiting out the end of the war in a POW camp.
There is a striking new section devoted to the Holocaust. Many allied flyers who were shot down were sent to concentration camps. The exhibit has a strong connection to Dayton by tying local veterans experiences in the war liberating camps to survivors who settled in Dayton after the war.
We really enjoyed the section dedicated to planes that flew US presidents. It’s pretty neat to see the crapper that Ike used his ultra modern four engine Constellation.
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

 

[mnole03]

Everyone should go. The Valkyrie alone is worth it.

 

[Sargeant Neal]

My Uncle Bill Thomas flew that "crapper" for 8 years.

 

[NipponPoke]

Have been twice this year. Went with my folks on a big trip through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio last month. Went to some cool museums, distilleries and historical sites. The Air Force Museum was their favorite stop.

The SAM 26000 was phenomenal. So much Presidential history on that plane. The BocksCar....the Memphis Belle.....fantastic stuff.

Personally, I'm partial to the Japanese Zero. Very few of those still in existence.

 

[h-hawk]

IIRC the trade off for the Zero's maneuverability was a lack of armor plating for the pilots and no self sealing gas tanks.

 

[Hawkeye_311]

SAC Museum just west of Omaha, NE is also great. Not on the level of Dayton but worth the visit.

 

[TJ8869]

I've been there twice, but both times was with wife (no pics) and kids and they seemed to think the objective was to get through it as quickly as possible. "This is the plane that dropped the atomic bomb that ended World War II. Do you mind if I take a minute to read the goddamn plaque?"

My neighbor is an Air Force veteran and an aviation maintenance supervisor. One of these days I'm going to go there with him so we can take the time to really study the exhibits. It really is a fantastic museum.

 

[Kozisek]

I was actually in Dayton on Tuesday as well. Stayed at the Drury Inn.

 

[seminole97]

There is a striking new section devoted to the Holocaust. Many allied flyers who were shot down were sent to concentration camps.

First I ever read of this.
Interesting.

 

[h-hawk]

We were in New Orleans in September and went to the WWII museum. Boeing has a big building featuring some WWII aircraft.

 

[lucas80]

On our through Indiana We stopped at the farm to see the wife’s uncle who was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. We mentioned that we got to see the AC 119 on display like the ones he worked on. He loves to talk about that plane, and the guys he served with. The war, not so much.

 

[TheCainer]

Mrs. Lucas and I stopped in Dayton to visit this museum on Tuesday. It’s a wonderful museum. We spent five hours there and we easily could have spent another five. There are four hangers filled with some of the most important aircraft in the history of the US, and some from other nations. We came across a Waco glider, which is the same kind that Mrs. Lucas grandfather went into Normandy in the first wave of D-Day. There is a B-17 propeller that an Iowa vet recovered from the wreckage of his plane after waiting out the end of the war in a POW camp.
There is a striking new section devoted to the Holocaust. Many allied flyers who were shot down were sent to concentration camps. The exhibit has a strong connection to Dayton by tying local veterans experiences in the war liberating camps to survivors who settled in Dayton after the war.
We really enjoyed the section dedicated to planes that flew US presidents. It’s pretty neat to see the crapper that Ike used his ultra modern four engine Constellation.
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

Living just outside Indianapolis I have been there 3 times and enjoyed every visit. I do have a "funny" story to tell about my second visit though.

I took my son who was in the 2nd grade along with one of my friends and his grade school son. Before we went, my son asked me if we might see his friend Joey who had been in first grade with him the year before. I asked why and he said that Joey had moved to Dayton with is family over the summer between 1st and 2nd grades. "Well", I told him, "don't get your hopes too high because Dayton is a pretty big town and the chances were very, very slim." Well, we got there and parked the car and as we were walking to the entrance of the museum, my son goes running off yelling, "Joey! Joey! Joey!". Well, i was dumbfounded. He actually did see his friend as he and his mother (no pics) were coming out of the museum while we were going in. If we had been a couple of minutes sooner or later they probably wouldn't have seen each other. In hindsight, I probably should have played the Lotto that night.

 

[franklinman]

I visited it when i had my physical in March 68 at the big VA hospital . My 4 years in The AF were over.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Mrs. Lucas and I stopped in Dayton to visit this museum on Tuesday. It’s a wonderful museum. We spent five hours there and we easily could have spent another five. There are four hangers filled with some of the most important aircraft in the history of the US, and some from other nations. We came across a Waco glider, which is the same kind that Mrs. Lucas grandfather went into Normandy in the first wave of D-Day. There is a B-17 propeller that an Iowa vet recovered from the wreckage of his plane after waiting out the end of the war in a POW camp.
There is a striking new section devoted to the Holocaust. Many allied flyers who were shot down were sent to concentration camps. The exhibit has a strong connection to Dayton by tying local veterans experiences in the war liberating camps to survivors who settled in Dayton after the war.
We really enjoyed the section dedicated to planes that flew US presidents. It’s pretty neat to see the crapper that Ike used his ultra modern four engine Constellation.
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

I haven't been yet. I have been to a number of smaller base museums like Eglin AFB in Florida and Warner Robins AFB in Georgia as well as the main Washington Mall Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum at the airport, the Alabama Battleship Park (which has a great collection of planes including a rare CIA A-12 which is essentially a smaller, sleeker, nuclear armed SR-71), Kennedy Space Center, Patriots Point/USS Yorktown Naval Museum, USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and the SAC museum. And honestly my favorite is the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola Florida.

The Naval Aviation Museum exhibit space is smaller than Udvar Hazy, Kennedy Space Center and the SAC Museum, but it's got some great exhibits including an example of nearly every plane flown by the Navy and Marines
as well as some NASA materials as they participated in the retrievals. Included is the first plane to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

And of course at least one of each plane type flown by the Pensacola-based Blue Angels.

Plus plenty of other exhibits from preWW1 to now.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I don’t know if it’s still open, but if you’re ever down near Lakeland, FL there’s a great private museum called Fantasy of Flight. The cool thing is most of the planes are airworthy and the owner (Kermit Weeks) flies an exhibition every afternoon. He just picks one and takes it up off his private grass runway.