- The National Museum of the US Air Force is the largest military aviation museum in the world.
- I visited Dayton, Ohio, to tour the museum, which features over 350 aircraft and missiles.
- Highlights included historic Air Force One planes and the only B-2 bomber on display in the world.
When I arrived at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, I could see why Cheryl Prichard, the museum's public affairs specialist, had advised me to wear comfortable shoes.
As the largest military aviation museum in the world, the 20-acre complex features over 350 aircraft and missiles from the early 1900s to the present day, with even more displays on the outdoor grounds.
The museum has the first right of refusal from the Air Force, meaning that it gets first dibs on historic Air Force aircraft and artifacts before they're offered to other museums. Notable highlights include several Air Force One planes, including the SAM 26000 used by eight presidents, and the only B-2 stealth bomber in the world on permanent public display.
Prichard told me that the National Museum of the US Air Force's enormous collection of historic planes and objects chronicles the Air Force's long history of dominating the skies.
"Air superiority was something that the Air Force has been a big part of since its inception. You still see that today, and that's one of the things that you will see all the way through," Prichard said. "The same with global reach — making sure that the aircraft that we have can go any place, anytime, right now. All of the aircraft that you see on display here will do that."
Here are the coolest things I saw during my visit in August.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force spans 20 indoor acres with additional outdoor exhibits.
The museum is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Admission is free.
The William E. Boeing Presidential Gallery features numerous historic planes, including the first-ever aircraft built specifically for US presidents.
The Douglas VC-54C Skymaster flown by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Truman was officially named "The Flying White House," but became better known by its nickname, "Sacred Cow."
Operated from 1944 to 1961, it featured an electric refrigerator, which was a rare luxury in plane galleys in the 1940s, an executive conference room, and an elevator that allowed Roosevelt to board in his wheelchair.
President Harry Truman's Air Force One, The Independence, was painted to look like a cartoon eagle.
The Douglas VC-118 was just the second-ever aircraft built for use by the president of the United States. Named for Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, it served as the presidential plane from 1947 to 1953.
The VIP passenger area on board featured Air Force One-themed playing cards.
President Dwight Eisenhower's Air Force One was the only Lockheed VC-121E ever built.
Eisenhower's Lockheed VC-121E, a militarized version of a commercial Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, served as Air Force One from 1954 to 1961. It was named Columbine III after the state flower of Colorado, where his wife, Mamie Eisenhower, was raised.
The plane featured a radio room, presidential stateroom, and a spacious lavatory.
SAM 26000 carried eight US presidents during its service as Air Force One from 1962 to 1998 — every leader from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy chose the Boeing VC-137C's blue-and-white color scheme and its decoration with the words "United States of America." In 1963, the Air Force One plane carried President John F. Kennedy's body back from Dallas to Washington, DC, after his assassination.
The aircraft included a communications center, a presidential stateroom, seating for presidential staff members and VIPs, and an electric typewriter that presidents used to work on speeches.
The World War II Gallery featured the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bockscar bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki in 1945.
Bockscar was named for its pilot, Capt. Frederick C. Bock. However, on August 9, 1945, Bock piloted an observation aircraft called The Great Artiste while Maj. Charles Sweeney, commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron, flew Bockscar and dropped the atomic bomb.
The museum restored the plane's original nose art, which featured a boxcar with wings, a mushroom cloud, and skyscrapers depicting Salt Lake City.
During my visit, a museum volunteer took me underneath the plane to show me where the 10,000-pound Fat Man atomic bomb was loaded.
The highlight of the Missile Gallery was this Minuteman II missile procedures trainer.
This exact replica of a Launch Control Center was used to train missileers at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at a moment's notice during the Cold War.
Instructors loaded simulated scenarios into a computer and evaluated the crew members' responses as they practiced the procedures involved in launching Minuteman II missiles.
The missiles, which were kept on constant alert, were armed with 1.2 megaton nuclear warheads and could reach targets anywhere in the world in under 30 minutes.
The National Museum of the US Air Force is the only place in the world to see a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber on permanent public display.
B-2 stealth bombers feature advanced stealth technologies that make them exceedingly difficult to detect by radar. They can refuel mid-air for flight times of more than 30 hours and have the ability to deploy both nuclear and conventional weapons, making them one of the most advanced warplanes in the world.
The Air Force's 19 operational B-2s are housed at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. They were most recently deployed in June during Operation Midnight Hammer, where they dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on nuclear facilities in Iran. Each plane costs about $2 billion.
So what is such a valuable national defense asset doing sitting in a museum? The B-2 on display in the museum's Cold War Gallery never actually flew. It was one of two models built for testing, without engines or other instruments. In fact, a museum volunteer showed me metal patches on one of the aircraft's wings where it snapped during durability tests.
