Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: creps@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Steve Creps) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: My trip to USAF Museum Message-ID: <1990Jun27.020916.1083@cbnews.att.com> Date: 27 Jun 90 02:09:16 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington Lines: 80 Approved: military@att.att.com From: creps@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Steve Creps) I went up to Dayton last Saturday, to the Air Force Museum. It was a very enjoyable visit. Planes all over the place! The way the museum is set up, you take a certain route through it, and you are on a self-guided tour. You start out at the earliest days of aviation, and proceed chronologically through World War I, World War II, and so on, including developments between wars. There are informative displays along the walls, and also miscellaneous items, not to mention the aircraft! Most of the displays are written (painted onto the walls) in the style of a reference book. Some of the more interesting planes they have- oh, never mind, they have just about any type of USAF plane you can think of, plus a couple of Nazi German aircraft, WWII-era Japanese planes, and a couple of Soviet aircraft (from blok countries). A few of my favorites were a B-25, a B-24 ("Strawberry Bitch"), and a B-17 ("Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby"). You could walk right up to (and under, etc!) most of the larger planes, and I did just that. They also had the one surviving XB-70 Valkyrie, a beautiful plane. I think the newest acquisition is a real SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 and the XB-70 are parked next to each other, and are really something to see. These planes are HUGE. I thought to myself that you could camp out under the SR-71 in a storm and not get wet. If that's the case, you could almost hold a carnival under the XB-70. I took the opportunity to poke my head around in all the nooks and crannies, including the landing gear wells. I was careful not to touch the planes, and it ticked me off to see three idiots come up to the SR-71 and start banging on the wings. I probably should have said something to them. I'm sure most of these planes are kept in flying condition. On the B-25 I even noticed a slight fluid leak from the port engine, much the same as you'd see in a car. On the SR-71 there were several panels underneath, perhaps replacing things that were there before putting it on display (camera doors?, etc). The XB-70's sister was lost in a mid-air collision, according to the display. I saw that accident on _Wings_ on the Discovery Channel. A chase plane apparently got too close and just flipped over into the Valkyrie, causing both planes to crash with the loss of I believe three lives. There was also a B-52, that I believe was damaged, but all I could see was some wrinkling in the skin on the fuselage. What I did miss seeing were Navy aircraft. No F4F's, F6F's, SBD's, F-14's, or the like. I guess they really mean it when they say USAF Museum. However, they did have some Air Force versions of Navy planes, such as a Skyraider, a Catalina (PBY), and a "Duck," but these were painted in USAF schemes. That brings me to a final note. Many of the planes were not restored to their original state, but rather to represent some other plane. One example is the PBY (I can't remember the USAF designation). I think it had been a USN plane, then an RCAF plane, before acquired by the museum. There were so many planes I didn't mention as well. All in all, a very nice trip. Unfortunately the annex was closed (until at least September), so I missed some other planes. There are also a few large planes parked outside. Then lots more fighters, both prop and jet, on the walking tour. I bought 93 postcards, of different planes on display ($.05 each!), and I'm sure that was not nearly all of them. As far as planning a trip to Dayton, if you just want to go through and take a quick look at all the planes, you're talking about a day. If you want to take your time and read all the exibits and get a good look at all the planes, spend a day and a half or two days. Anyway that's my report. I hope it wasn't too much of a hodge-podge. --Steve p.s. I planning a trip east this summer. Does the Navy have anything similar to the museum at Dayton? - - - - - - - - - - Steve Creps creps@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (129.79.1.6) {inuxc,rutgers,uunet!uiucdcs,pur-ee}!iuvax!silver!creps