gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Share #1 Posted October 18, 2016 My brother and I were fortunate enough to visit the National Museum of the US Air Force for two full days last week. I had deluded myself into thinking that we would be able to see almost all of it in that time. With over 300 aircraft and countless smaller exhibits, we could have easily spent a third and even part of a fourth day there and perhaps still not seen all of it. I took over 1,600 photographs and managed to fill a 16 GB card. I "ran out of film" at one point, and had to stop in the middle of the museum to delete photos from earlier shoots to have enough to continue. Needless to say, it will be some time before I have all of these sorted. The scale of the place, the variety of historic aircraft and the quality of the exhibits is beyond compare. I found myself heading one direction to look at something, and then getting pulled away in the opposite direction by something equally interesting. That went on all day long. One of the tour books that we had suggested that minimum of four hours should be budgeted for this stop. We found that to be a bit of an underestimate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #2 Posted October 18, 2016 We optimistically started out in the Early Years/ World War 1 section. By the end of the day, we had not finished Hanger 1 and had not completed World War II. On day 2, we cut straight through to Hanger 4 to see the Space Exploration gallery at the request of my brother. Then we went back, distracted the whole way (Air Force One, etc.), to the Vietnam section which I very much wanted to see. (By the way, the color map below is available for a $5 donation to the Association of the US Air Force. It was available in the lobby and well worth the money. The backside has a list of the aircraft with a map grid reference of where they can be found.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #3 Posted October 18, 2016 It is going to take some time sort the photos that I mentioned. For now, I am just going to post a selection of some of the things we saw. For those of you who want a more complete view, follow this link for a virtual tour. http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/VirtualTour.aspx This display of USAF Enlisted greets you as you start your tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #4 Posted October 18, 2016 Early years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiziwater Posted October 18, 2016 Share #5 Posted October 18, 2016 Thanks for that post about the USAF Museum near Dayton, OH. Gotta get up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #6 Posted October 18, 2016 Inter war to WWII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #7 Posted October 18, 2016 WWII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #8 Posted October 18, 2016 WWII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #9 Posted October 18, 2016 WWII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #10 Posted October 18, 2016 Korea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #11 Posted October 18, 2016 1950's/ Cold War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #12 Posted October 18, 2016 Cold War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #13 Posted October 18, 2016 Berlin, from Blockade to the Fall of the Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #14 Posted October 18, 2016 Vietnam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #15 Posted October 18, 2016 To the edge of space... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #16 Posted October 18, 2016 Global War on Terror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share #17 Posted October 18, 2016 That's it for now! I have a LOT of sorting to do, but I will have more. Stay tuned... and if at all possible, plan a trip for yourself. You will only be disappointed that you couldn't spend more time there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aznation Posted October 18, 2016 Share #18 Posted October 18, 2016 Great pics...loved looking at them. Thank you for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluehawk Posted October 18, 2016 Share #19 Posted October 18, 2016 Really wonderful to see all of that, Gil. That museum is very high on my "bucket list" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Meatcan Posted October 18, 2016 Share #20 Posted October 18, 2016 Gil, top-notch photography as usual! What a fantastic museum! Totally agree with Bluehawk, that place deserves priority on the bucket list. We should have an annual USMF conclave at the museum. thanks for posting and I'm very much looking forward to more of your pix. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waltz41 Posted October 19, 2016 Share #21 Posted October 19, 2016 Last time I was there was about 5-6 years ago. Itching to go back, esp with the new hanger up. Such an amazing place. Some of the smaller non-airplane parts I loved were the disney in ww2 display they had as well as the hall of flight jackets. Thanks for sharing the photos and memories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted October 19, 2016 Share #22 Posted October 19, 2016 Great pics at a great museum. Thanks! A visit should be on everybody's bucket list! Bobgee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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