Blog Entry #12 June 5, 2017: National Air Force Museum, Dayton, OH – Highland, OH




June 5, 2017: Photos taken at the National Air Force Museum, Dayton, OH

Monday, June 5th, Jean and I re-packed the Jeep and headed off to the National Air Force Museum, four miles from our previous evening’s lodgingsin Dayton. The newly updated museum currently consists of 4 major hanger-shaped structures interconnected by a central hall with theme exhibits of its own. Each “hanger” has two sides each of which contains aircraft (and spacecraft) of a specific era.

I had last visited the museum (then I believe it was called the Wright Paterson Air Force Museum) in the late 1970’s with a Michigan co-worker. At that time there were not nearly as many exhibits and some of the larger aircraft were stationed outdoors. We were then able to walk through the B-17 that remains on display. That model plane is of particular interest to me, as anelderly close friend (now deceased) was a pilot on B-17 missions from England to Germany during the WW II. After flying the requisite 25 missions, he was informed that they needed him to fly another 5 missions. He is one of the exceptional pilots to who had completed all 30 missions “successfully”. The B-17 is a lot smaller inside than one might envision.

Another plane of special interest to me is the Douglas C-47 military transport. In 1967, my final year at Ohio Northern University, I flew as a passenger, several “missions” in the civilian version of this aircraft, the DC3, to job interviews throughout the northeast USA on the then Lake Central Airlines. (are there enough commas in this sentence?) Anyway, I have many humorous remembrances of incidences involving those DC3 flights, not the least of which is the flight being canceled because we got stuck in the mud avoiding a private plane landing on our runway.

Douglas DC-3 – Civilian version of the C-47 Skytrain military transport

We spent most of the day at the Museum and only brushed the surface. Also while we were there we viewed the presentation “Dream Big: Engineering Our World” on 3-D on their IMAX sizes screen. Very inspiring for those inclined toward the engineering profession (young and old).

Wanting to continue progress toward our next point-of-interest, Grandfather Mountain, in western North Carolina, we left the museum around 4pm on June 5th and proceed south through southern Ohio to our evening’s stop in the small town of Highland, OH.

Blog Entry #11 June 4, 2017: Ada, OH to Dayton, OH – stop at Mid-Ohio Raceway
Blog Entry #13 June 6, 2017: Highland, OH – Cumberland Gap, KY