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Unread 06-05-11, 12:15 PM
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hharney hharney is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Michigan (8D4)
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Air Force Museum

If you have never attended the USAF museum it has to be one of the best, if not THE BEST, aircraft museums in the world. Most of the SOAPA members had not been to this spectacular facility, so it was really fun to attend with the group. We arrived in our 15 passenger chauffeured (Herb) van right at about 1 PM. This gave us a full 4 hours to check out the displays. Unfortunately, it takes about 12 to 16 hours to really see all that this available at this fantastic facility. One of the greatest parts of the tour, it's FREE. The whole place is free to attend, except the iMax theater, which some SOAPA members did. We attended the special on base tour which requires security clearance, so that ate up some of our time but was well worth the look. It's like the back stage tour. We are bussed through the gate onto the actual Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to a twin adjoining hanger that features Presidential planes on one side and closet cases on the other. The Super Constellation, Columbine III that Eisenhower used, a DC-6 that Truman had and the 707 that carried Kennedy from Dallas in a casket. Along with other presidential and political aircraft scattered about the floor of the hanger.

On the adjoining side was a collection of wanna-be's and historical record breaking planes. Towering over all the interesting aircraft was the venerable XB-70 Valkyrie super-sonic bomber. Also seen was the XB-1 that broke the sound barrier, the x-15 and many aircraft that had great intentions but just never made the cut. It was a once in a lifetime chance to see these unique aircraft in one location. The collection was phenomenal. Everyone enjoyed taking the extra base tour. We then returned to the museum and scattered to various points of interest within the 3 enormous hangers that separate the aircraft displays in era's of use and time. Early years, European Campaign, Pacific Campaign and the Cold War days. Just to get a perspective of the size of these hangers, the cold war sections has a B-36 Peacemaker, B-1B bomber, C133 Cargo Master, B-50 and dozens more all in one of 3 hangers. It was truly a visit that all will want to come back to spend more time in the future.

I took some time and visited the memorial park that is just outside the museum which features memorials from all the different bomber and fighter groups. There must be 3 or 4 dozen granite and bronze memorials that recognize these brave men and their tribute to the fight for freedom that we enjoy each day. It really stirred my emotions several times while taking at least an hour to visit this dynamic holy ground. I humbly walked through alone only imagining the lives that have been touched by these memorials. It is something everyone should take time to experience, Lest we never forget.
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Herb R Harney
1968 337C

Flying the same Skymaster for 47 years

Last edited by hharney : 06-05-11 at 10:45 PM.
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