Renee worked today and recommended the Air Force Museum in
Dayton (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) would be worth our while. It was!
The gallery of early aviation was closed today; however, we
saw everything else. Thank goodness for motorized scooters! The scooters (for
those of us who cannot walk long distances) and admission are free; however,
they appreciate any donations.
On day forty-three of this road trip, we visited the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. During our visit the clerk in the gift shop told us that if we got anywhere near Wright Patterson to check out the Air Force Museum. I promptly filed that in the “When you’ve seen all of this museum what more could there be to see? Do I really need two museums about airspace?” compartment of my brain.
When Renee recommended it last night I thought, “What the heck.
That’s two recommendations and it may be a while before I get this way again.”
I am so glad we went. The National Air and Space Museum was
fun and interesting. The Air Force Museum was poignant and emotionally charged.
The very first gallery we visited was Prejudice and Memory: A Holocaust
Exhibit. This exhibit set the tone for our visit. The displays and stories
remind us of the price all people pay when hatred and fascism are allowed to
become a fabric of our lives.
The five hours we spent at the museum flew by. We had
thought we would be there for a couple of hours and there was no way to do the
museum justice in a couple of hours.
I enjoyed reading and learning more about the events in each
gallery. The highlights for me included:
- Holocaust Exhibit
- Missile Gallery
- Presidential Gallery (Air Force One – they have three of the retired planes and several of the lesser planes used to transport family members at different points in history, including two planes flown by Eisenhower when he was president).
- An OA-10 Catalina which is a seaplane used during WW II for search and rescue of downed pilots. Joe’s dad flew an OA-10, among other seaplanes, during his Navy service in WW II.
- Access to the Presidential planes and as well as several other planes in the other galleries. Joe walked through them. I opted to not go up and down the stairs (lots of stairs!!).
- Learning about Vittles, a dog (Boxer) that flew 131 missions with his owner, Lt. Russ Steber during the Berlin Airlift. They had a special parachute made for Vittles. Fortunately, he never had to use it in the estimated 2000 flying hours he accumulated. I thought my daughter and friends with dogs would appreciate the story of Vittles.
- The Prisoner of War (POW) exhibit in the Southeast Asia War Gallery.
- Women in the Air Force displays throughout different galleries.
It was all worthwhile. We even saw an exhibit on the history
of the Civil Air Patrol, so I snapped a photo and emailed it to our friend Dave
in Arizona because he flies with the Civil Air Patrol.
I took photo after photo and still could not capture the essence
and magnitude of the displays. I will include some of the phots here and then
do a bonus post in the next couple of days.
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