One small Reds Winter Caravan Tour Stop for man, one blogger in a space suit for Redsfankind.
When last we made the road trip to Dayton, Ohio for the Reds Winter Caravan tour stop at the USAF Museum we followed up the Reds event that morning with a walk through the museum in the afternoon. Well, we walked through half of the museum. Maybe half. If you haven't visited recently, the museum is massive. If you want to take your time walking through, reading all the information cards, studying aircraft, pondering the science, thrilling at the history, marveling at the courage, framing cool photographs, sitting down occasionally to rest your weary back and sore feet, and maybe have lunch and visit the gift shoppe then you should plan a full two-day visit. This is all to say, upon our previous visit we missed half of the museum and on this trip we saw - just about - the other half of the museum.
The museum is laid out in a chronological manner. Last time we walked through the galleries displaying hardware from more recent eras; exhibits featuring Cold War era aircraft, spacecraft and rockets, assorted examples of Air Force One and the missile silo. For this second visit to the USAF Museum, following the conclusion of the Reds Winter Caravan event, we walked through the birth of flight, World War One, and WW2 galleries, including a somber temporary exhibit (on loan) educating museum visitors about the horrors of Jewish persecution in Germany and the NAZI concentration camps.
It won't surprise you to know that the Wright Brothers are prominently featured among the birth of flight exhibits. On sheer size alone, one cannot miss this Orville Wright designed wind tunnel.
Honestly, I tried to fit the whole wind tunnel into frame but this was as much as I could manage while photographing at least one end. Built in 1916, the wind tunnel is on loan to the USAF Museum from.....
Miami University! What what?! Say what?
Don't miss the Wright Cycle Company bicycle on display just inside the exhibit entrance. Very cool!
Strap yourself in! Rapid fire:
World War One era Fokker Triplane! That's right, Fokker, I said Fokker! Deal with it. Lou can be seen at the bottom of the photo, probably reading up on that most famous of all WW1 triplane pilots Manfred von Richtofen aka the Red Baron. His dying last word - after being shot down near Vaux-sur-Somme on April 21st, 1918 - has been widely reported by eyewitnesses as being "Kaputt." Indeed.
Here are service medals for two of the better known WW1 battles. This was part of a much larger display of WW1 medals and ribbons.
Sopwith Camel. The preferred WW1 fighter plane of Snoopy.
The Museum has on display a multitude of aircraft engines. This WW1 engine was designed/manufactured by a well-known car-maker of the period.
Moving onto the World War Two exhibits, the Axis Powers are represented as you would expect.
NAZI Enigma machine.
Imperial Japanese Mitsubishi Zero.
Among the countless things I learned that day was that the Wright Company was still in business and engineering/building aircraft engines in WW2.
US Army Air Corps Curtiss P-40 Warhawk painted with the sharkface made famous by the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers. At the start of WW2, the P-40 was the leading US fighter plane. P-40s were among the few U.S. fighters that took to the air at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. They saw combat in the Philippines in December of '41. P-40's were used by the Flying Tigers in China in '41 and '42 and were deployed in North Africa in 1943.
The main attraction these days at the USAF Museum is the Memphis Belle B-17 Flying Fortress. Do yourself a favor, set aside 40 minutes and watch the 1944 War Department documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. Then go see the bomber at the USAF Museum.
On the subject of WW2 and modern warplanes, I have a bias in favor of bombers - "big birds" as USAF veteran Mr B has always referred to them. Fittingly, at the exit of the WW2 hanger you'll find another significant aircraft, but one that has been largely forgotten.
The B-29 silverplate Superfortress Bockscar. On August 9th, 1945 this bomber dropped the Fat Man nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
Each year the Reds Winter Caravan is conducted in a hanger near the center of the museum complex, dedicated to the Vietnam era. It's the one hanger that we haven't fully explored. Maybe next year?
Roll the credits!
