This summer, my family and I drove to North Carolina for — a well-deserved — vacation. Ironically, I am not writing about North Carolina. The trip I am detailing is from our drive back home. My little sister is obsessed with all kinds of airplanes. We knew visiting the National Museum of the US Air Force was a must. This museum is located in Dayton, Ohio, and is even cooler than expected. As much as my sister loves airplanes, I am indifferent towards them. In fact, I was definitely expecting it to be lame. I can happily report, I was wrong.
The museum is inside four connected airplane hangers. Each hanger displays one or two aviation time periods. The vast amount of exhibits include early years, World War II, Korean War, Southeast Asia War, Cold War, the missile gallery, the space gallery, research and development, global reach and the presidential gallery. All exhibits are arranged in chronological order from the moment to enter the museum. Sprinkled throughout these exhibits are multiple other exhibits dedicated to women in aviation. I found that the women in aviation exhibits and the presidential gallery were my favorites.
The women in aviation exhibits were fairly small but incredibly inspiring. It was impressive to see how many women were/are involved throughout aviation history. They had a lot of the actual suits worn by various notable female aviators. Among these suits were the 10 suits worn by “the first 10.” The first 10 were — as the name suggests — the first 10 women to partake in pilot and navigator training for the United States Air Force. I will say it was a bit disheartening to realize how recent it was that women began to have the same opportunities as men in the Air Force. Many of the women’s pictures were in color. These women were the first to do various aviation responsibilities, and yet, it was recent enough they had access to a good quality, color camera.
The other aspect of the museum I spent the most time at was the presidential gallery. Within this gallery they had the real Air Force One planes of a lot of our previous presidents. They have 10 different Air Force One planes on display. The even cooler part of this display is that you were able to walk through four of the 10 actual planes these presidents flew in. You are able to walk through the Air Force One planes of Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. It was such a surreal experience to walk through the same exact plane that JFK flew in — both alive and dead. I have always been fascinated by JFK and Jackie Kennedy. I was in awe that I was walking through he very plane Jackie Kennedy stood in after her husband was assassinated right next to her. The same plane that JFK’s coffin was loaded into. Each of the four planes you were able to walk through had glass to protect the quality of it. Therefore, we just walked through the tight space between the glass on each side. There were super cool facts throughout the walkway.
As much as I never expected to say this, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force was an incredible experience. Even if you have no interest in planes, there is still something for everyone. The museum has so much to offer. We even met a family that got there at 9 a.m. and was there until close at 5 p.m., and they still didn’t feel like they saw everything! I definitely recommend visiting this museum at least once in your lifetime.