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| A trip to the National Museum of the USAF (Page 2/4) |
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Sage
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FEB 25, 08:59 AM
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Fabulous place! 
Spent a day there a couple years ago while delivering parts in Dayton. So much "iconic" stuff there!
I believe one could spend weeks/months/years there and still not properly see everything available.
It's free to boot, and everybody is so accommodating.....I had my wife with me and she had to be in a wheelchair, but it didn't slow us down much and everybody there went out of their way to make sure she had a positive experience.
Everyone should get to visit this place...at least once!
Thanks for posting the pics and sharing your experience....comforting to know there are others with the same/similar sense of appreciation for what is housed there and the people who assembled and maintain it for ALL of us to enjoy.
HAGO! 
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hammer
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FEB 25, 10:14 AM
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An awesome place. Loved the B-36!
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Cheever3000
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FEB 25, 03:49 PM
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Went there several times when I lived near Cincinnati. Loved the P-40 and the F-117.
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Do they still have the Valkyrie?
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WonderBoy
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FEB 25, 08:49 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by maryjane:
45 rounds per minute is not a very high rate of fire at all...and it only carried 22 rounds in the magazine?
(I can understand why there weren't many installed and so few actually used. Slow rate of fire and according to Jane's and Wiki, the gun weighed 1100 lbs without ammo)
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Given time, those crafty German engineers would've found a way. High muzzle velocity and fired at a distance where bomber defenses couldn't reach, score a shot in the wing, no more wing, score a shot in the tail, bye bye tail, score one in the bomb bay area...
Rheinmetall BK-5
| quote | | According to the account of the engagements against the USAAF by II./ZG 26 from late February through mid-April 1944[4] the 53 Me 410 Hornisse of that Zerstörergruppe equipped with the BK 5 claimed a total of 129 B-17 Flying Fortress and four Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, destroyed over five or six interceptions while losing nine of their own Me 410s |
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But then again, time wasn't on their side. Like the V-2 rockets, their wonder weapons came too late.
My mistake, THIS one was not experimental
It actually was used in a few aircraft, mostly the Bell P39 Airacobra. Not used at all by Americans/British but the Soviets had great/high success with them. This cannon contained 30rounds for low altitude combat.
Either way, quite ingenuitive.
But while on the subject of intense nose-blowing, everyone knows the A10 thunderbolt and it's deadly brrrrrttt 
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WonderBoy
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FEB 25, 10:23 PM
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Thanks guys.
Even though I was there when I was 4yo, then now again at 43, ones appreciation about what other generations went through, the brains, the technology, the bravery and courage. Many who grow up never make the mental transition. Against the odds. Going there I was too overstimulated. Must be my ADHD. Like whenever I go to a fireworks store without a list and just a credit card.
Since I go into many homes, I meet many vets. I always go above and beyond. It's the only way I can thank them. Hell, only service I've been in was the boyscouts...
Around 2010 I remember doing a business hookup at a rented out gathering hall at a VFW that was being rented out as a after school youth program thing. Downstairs was the bar. Looks like no one has been down there in years. As I was running some coax over the top of the bar still full of various full/partially full liquor bottles covered in dust, was noticing all the numerous pictures. Pictures of people that look to have been taken at this bar. Old polaroids. Newspaper clips of those who have passed with them. A still readable chalkboard full of names (Deadpool anyone), their military ranks and branches they served. Just seemed wrong that a place that used to be jumping (hey, we survived!), has nothing left. Almost like I was in the middle of a memorial. I had a weird feeling in me for a month after being there.
| quote | Originally posted by Cheever3000:
Went there several times when I lived near Cincinnati. Loved the P-40 and the F-117.
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Do they still have the Valkyrie? |
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Yup, the Valkyrie is still there. Still working my way up on my knowledge of those generations of planes. My dad had an interest in that one as well.
I need to start investing some time in flight simulator games. Get the gear, the responsive chair, authentic joystick. Damn, I'm so out of it. Last pc game I played was QIII Arena (CTF). I'm getting old 
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theogre
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FEB 25, 11:32 PM
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olejoedad
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FEB 25, 11:39 PM
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The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo is a very nice museum, if you're in the area check it out!
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cvxjet
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FEB 25, 11:49 PM
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I would really enjoy going there- I went to Castle AFB Museum in the Central Valley here in CA years ago- spotted a derelict B-36 behind the fence.....years later I found out that they had restored it and moved it in with the other AC on display so I made another trip there.
On the Coast run with the Golden Gate Fiero Club in 2017, the Coast highway had been blocked by a gigantic slide in the winter (A whole hill slid into the ocean- taking the highway with it) So one of the members suggested going to the Estrella Air museum. I was really happy with that idea.
I was outside with some of the club members telling them about the aircraft (I was in the Navy on the USS Coral Sea- but I was crazy about all AC from the time I could walk).....It was very hot so I decided to go in one of the buildings for a break- And was stunned to see an amazing array of classic/race cars; A 300 SL!!!! An Allard, a bunch of F1 and Indy cars, some stock cars, including a 1957 Fairlane that had been found abandoned in a field- still had mud on it and the floor was rusted out- but it was the real thing!
As I was just starting to look around, a guy tapped me on the shoulder and stated, "Sir, we are closing now- you can come back tomorrow" (I did not fall on the ground and throw a hissy fit- but it was close)
In 2018, we went back there just to see all of the cars (I'm a bit of a car nut, also)
I also went to Lackland AFB for a Hazmat shipping course (2005) (Coast guard civilian) and they have a number of beautiful aircraft around their parade field...
Now I want to repair/rewire an old S-3 Viking.....
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Quadfather
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FEB 26, 09:28 PM
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Love the National Museum of the Air Force. My dad was a corporate pilot so we were introduced to aviation pretty much at birth and he first took us there while we were visiting friends in Cincinnati in the late 70s. My wife is from Dayton so I’ve visited the museum many times over the years, including in most recently in October 2020.
Here’s a photo of the Valkyrie from 2017.
Seeing so many one-of-a-kind aircraft is amazing, like the YF-23, the XB-70, and even “the cornfield bomber,” but one of the exhibits that really affected me was the C-141 known as the “Hanoi Taxi.” It transported the first group of American POWs released by North Vietnam in 1973. I remembered seeing the footage of those POWs cheering as they cleared North Vietnam’s air space when I was 9 years old, and seeing THE VERY aircraft from that footage in person made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I can also recommend the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, which also has a B-36, as well as the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. After my son graduated from basic at Ft. Benning my wife and I made a quick visit there in 2016 and were blown away by the incredible variety of aircraft. Definitely need to go back.
 [This message has been edited by Quadfather (edited 02-26-2022).]
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maryjane
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FEB 26, 10:26 PM
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