National Museum of the USAF

What a beautiful day for a mini-excursion, a trip to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton. I hadn't been there in years and neither had my good friend Eric Oda. So we met for lunch at Bullwinkle's Top Hat Bistro in Miamisburg. I had a wonderful artichoke heart sub, an out-of-this-world concoction I've never tasted before but hope to repeat soon. Then on to the Air Force Museum.
 Enjoy the photo tour ...

 The entrance - outside.

The entrance - inside.

Servicemen were getting a special tour of the museum.

The gift shop is the first/last stop as you make your rounds.

Part of the museum's holocaust display, the "Jude" yellow star symbolized Nazi persecution of the Jews.
It was hard to see. Click here for more information.

Eric Oda checks a photo he's taken with his cell phone.

Me in front of a Lear Jet.

A "Superfortress" airplane used for weather observations.

An almost "X-Ray" view of a plane with the metal skin removed.

Rocket engines - Titan, I believe (and Eric Oda)

Apollo 15 Commend Module (CM), Endeavour.

A close-up view of two of the thrusters, clearly well-used.

Another close-up view of the Apollo 15 CM. Are these also holes for thrusters

or some sort of exhaust or umbilical connections?

An extreme close-up of the "honeycomb" structure that makes up the exterior of the Apollo CM.

The "pressure vehicle" was made of "an aluminum honeycomb sandwich bonded between sheet

aluminum alloy" according to the University of Oregon.

Eric Oda (l) and I in front of the Apollo 15 Command Module, Endeavour. This capsule flew around the moon in 1971 and safely returned David Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin to Earth. To read more about Apollo 15, click here.

A space trophy.

An example of a Mercury (one man) capsule (1959-1963)

Click here for more information.

An example of a Gemini (two man) capsule. (1962-1966)

Click here for more information.

One tall building holds an assortment of rockets. It's dizzying to look up.

A "spy" satellite, I believe.

Another view of the rockets.

Manhigh I - Joe Kittinger made a parachute jump from 96.750' in 1957.

Excelsior - Kittinger jumped from 74,700' in 1959. A third jump in 1960

was from an altitude of 19.47 miles.

Stargazer - Kittinger and astronomer William White made observations from 82,200' for 18 hours in 1960.

For more information on Kittinger, click here

.This "Stealth" plane doesn't even photograph well. It's dark and non-reflective.

Eric Oda at the controls of a Space Shuttle simulator. He managed to land it, first try.

And me ... I wasn't quite so lucky!

One of the electronic displays in the Shuttle.

Another electronic display.

A full-size mock-up of a Space Shuttle is under construction at the museum,

It's supposed to be finished Fall 2013 (about now!).

Front-on view of the Shuttle Crew Trainer under construction.

A really hot paint job!

A wide view of more modern (and smaller) planes.

The "Strawberry Bitch" - click here for an interesting overview.

In one of the interior hallways at the museum is this mosaic of the Wright Brother's first flight

at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903. This is just a small section of the mural.

Now look what happens if I zoom in on an even small section:

What an interesting afternoon. We didn't begin to see half of it. And yet it's a lot of walking and a very large area to cover. It'll beckon us back some day.