Fourth Building Gallery Overviews

Here's a look at the museum's fourth building with interviews from the gallery project managers.

[@tomcollier9892]

This is a phenomenal place to spend lots of time.

[@sharontodd7761]

It is an phenomenal museum. I so lucky to have been able to go. Thank you all your hard work shows.

[@sharontodd7761]

It shows.

[@USAFmuseum]

Special thanks Sharon for being a fan of this museum!!! We hope you can visit again soon!

[@alphaadhito]

Can't wait to see the Space Gallery. That Titan IV rocket though :')

[@person5476]

I love going to the museum, and the reason i love it is because like the video said, that's the only place to see most of them and even though some of them don't look the best, or do the best- like the tactit blue(used for studying stealth technology but was highly unstable) or the aerocar (tested out if hovercraft can be made but was also highly unstable and never got far off of the ground) you still have to think that they're at least a bit cool because they helped make great planes like the b-2 spirit or the f-117 nighthawk or test out ideas. also the fact that it is free to go is amazing! I mean, they have planes that made history or planes that only exist there. it's the largest aviation museum in the world (360 planes) and the planes that aren't the actual thing from the time are still re-created just as one would be coming off of the assembly line. take the Fokker dr.1 for example. its famous for the fact that the red baron flew it, but none exist anymore. no problem for them though, they just made an exact replica of it, to the screws in the engine. ( to the point where if you got it down, and added the right fluids somehow, you'd probably be able to fly it. please don't. I like it there) its just so surreal and awesome to just be able to walk in, then there's just planes. just sitting there. so cool. 10/10

[@jonduke4472]

My favorite game to play with new visitors is spot the B-52. I love seeing people realize what they're looking at. My boy is almost 2 nearly time to go again.

[@person5476]

the b-52 is awesome. did you know that the air force is going to make more? :D

[@karenhenningsen4671]

My Dad Lt Col Henningsen Flew Air Force II "Columbine III" 1955-1963. Flying Vice Presidents Nixon and LBJ. I am blessed to have visited here in 1999 and was in awe to see it.

[@agarevaneliyev1524]

Поздравляю вас с 75 летием.

[@donweimer9264]

The National Museum of the USAF has done an outstanding job with the new fourth building. I'm extremely happy to have been a small part of its construction and as a long time member of the Friends organization, I highly recommend a visit. The entire museum is a splendid place! my only non-complaint would be slightly better lighting in the Modern Flight Hanger. It's dark in there!!!

[@AvengerII]

I hate to correct the curator BUT what I've read about the fates of the YF-12A's is different from what he stated. One plane WAS completely destroyed. A second plane was heavily damaged BUT the rear end was salvaged and the front end of an SR-71 trainer was grafted onto the salvaged rear to produce the SR-71C. The Air Force needed a second trainer after one of the two existing SR-71B trainers was destroyed early in the SR-71 program. They couldn't produce a completely new plane because at that point most of the Blackbird production tooling may have been destroyed, or it was cheaper to recycle existing hardware than to produce a new airframe from scratch. At any rate, the SR-71C was never a popular plane among the pilots. They said it had a tendency to fly "slightly sideways." The forward fuselage may not have been properly grafted to the salvaged rear from the wrecked YF-12A. The last plane was used by NASA for years in supersonic studies. It was retired in 1979 and that's the plane in the Air Force Museum. At the same time this surviving YF-12A was used by NASA, an additional Blackbird, an operational SR-71A was used by NASA. To disguise the fact that it WAS an SR-71A, it was redesignated YF-12C but there was no such plane produced OR ever planned! It got the "C"-model designation to confuse the public and foreign nations. Had the YF-12 gone into actual production, the production plane would have been designated F-12B. The F-12B would have been a substantially different plane from the YF-12A. It would have had a more conventional chine configuration. They found out the infrared scanners used on the YF-12A didn't work so well so the chines that were cut from the YF-12A would have been restored on the F-12B making the F-12B look closer to the single-seat A-12 configuration. The F-12B would have still had the same bulbous nose the YF-12A had. The last surviving partial YF-12 artifact, SR-71C, is at another location. There are two other Blackbird family aircraft at the Air Force Museum: an SR-71A that set a speed record and may be one of the highest flight-time Blackbirds and one of the D-21 drones.

[@Titus-as-the-Roman]

I was in the audience when the first C-141 Star Lifter brought back Vietnam POW's to Wright-Patterson. The Aircraft had been superseded by the C-5 (which I had the privilege of seeing the first one flown to Wright-Patt, they had to park it on the tarmac cause it was so large, some where I've an old Kodak photo of it), it was still an impressive aircraft.

[@person5476]

the c-17 is actually modeled to be near the same size as the starlifter but holds 2x the cargo, which you can see there too :D

[@person5476]

but thats really cool

[@jimbackus5246]

It is at The old Wright Field in Dayton

[@goldencastlescrystalstream2299]

they also have the place for the original MASH UNIT and the real hotlips hoolihan and hawkeye etc... its cool too see

[@johnfarmer9737]

In the gift shop is there a Christmas ornament available?

[@TimConnor]

If that is at wright-Patterson I could kick my butt because I spent months in Dayton going to school at NCR and I didn't go.

[@jdarksword]

Tim Connor kick your butt then, its right outside of wright pat AFB

[@TimConnor]

135th Darksword I know I had many opps to go there

[@flyurway]

And it's free too!

[@zigwald]

i hope you get to build the fifth hanger.

[@goldencastlescrystalstream2299]

I seen all of those

[@geraldpriest635]

I didn't notice any B-17's, B-24's or B-25's. Nor did I see any WWII fighters. Do they have any there, or can they be seen elsewhere? I've toured the Nine O Nine B-17 (that crashed recently), a B-24, sat in the captain's seat in a B-25, and crawled my way to the cockpit of an A-26 and stood up, taking loads of videos. All of those mentioned above I saw at the Tyler TX Pounds Field museum when they flew in before doing an airshow elsewhere. The B-17 offered rides for $400.00 and the P-51 offered rides for $1,000 for 15 minutes, or $2,000 for a little longer. I caught a hop in a C-97 while I was in the AF so I knew what 4 huge engines sounded like with no insulation. In 1954, I also flew in a TWA Connie from London to NY and a DC-6 from NY to Atlanta, which were insulated. Makes a difference. While in the AF I was lucky enough to catch hops on C-54's and C-131's to Barksdale AFB, which is only 100 miles from Tyler, TX my home town. These hops all started at Ellsworth AFB, SD where I was stationed for 28 months, and caught two hops on C-54's from Ramey AFB, PR. One to FL. and back, the other to Barksdale.

[@deereboy8400]

Yes they all all of those. This video covers only the newest hangar. They have a website, ya know.

[@markvittorini5163]

They are in the WWII hangar!

[@jimblake3574]

They have the B-17 Memphis Belle. There are a few others painted to represent it, for example to make movies, but the AF Museum has the real one. They have so much more. B-29 Bocks Car, they even have a B-36. It's an amazing museum. First time I was there was the 1970s and the XB-70 was outdoors.

[@goldencastlescrystalstream2299]

I was in the presidents plane too hahaha

[@goldencastlescrystalstream2299]

I been there 4 times at least