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Welcome to the world's best military aircraft museum, hosted by none other
than Uncle Sam himself. Tucked deep in the bowels of one of
America's less interesting states (sorry, Ohio!), this facility has more
floorspace than any other of the museums I've visited, and historically
important aircraft to fill all of it and then some, with quite a few planes
parked outside together with a gaggle of the missiles which made the Cold
War such a fun time.
Naturally enough the focus is on historically significant aircraft of the
United States Air Force, ranging from slightly pre World War Two through
to the modern day, represented by a YF-22 Raptor. World War
Two bombers include the B-18 Bolo, B-24 Liberator and B-25 Mitchell; suprisingly,
at the time I visited there was no example of the most famous American
bomber of the war, the B-17 Flying Fortress, and the B-29 Superfortress
was represented only by a cutaway fuselage and the very modified tanker
version, the KC-97 Stratofreighter. World War Two fighters
include the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-39 Aerocobra.
There are also aircraft from countries which fought against the US Air
Force. World War Two German aircraft are represented by a Bf109,
FW190, Me262 jet, Fieseler Storch and V1 and V2 rockets, the Italians by
a Macchi Saetta, and the Japanese by a Kawanishi "George" and an Ohka rocket-powered
kamikaze plane. Unfortunately, neither of the Japanese aircraft
was on display, though if you're desperate then you can look at this photo
of an Ohka at Quantico marine museum.
Finally, there's a very interesting section of weird
and wonderful USAF aircraft, most of which never got out of the developmental
stage. However, the first of these, the F-82 "Twin Mustang",
did go into production and was used for some time, achieving some success
during the Korean War. As its name suggests, and despite protestations
to the contrary on its plaque, the Twin Mustang consists of two P-51 Mustangs
joined together at the wing and tail. The comically stubby
XF-85 Goblin is next, a "parasitic" jet fighter designed to be carried
by the enormous B-36 Peacemaker bomber, and released to ward away enemy
fighters before being recaptured and pulled back on board its mother plane.
The Ryan X-13 Vertijet is another product of this period, designed to take
off and land vertically from a mobile stand. The "Tacit Blue"
is a much more recent test aircraft, designed as a test bed for the stealth
concepts which were soon incorporated into the F-117 Knighthawk "stealth
fighter" and B-2 Spirit "stealth bomber". Another aircraft
built to explore radical technologies is the Grumman X-29, a modern looking
jet with wings swept forward instead of backwards. |
