Way back when I was a college student I went here:
Can recommend. Monster raving wonderful recommend.
What was jarring to young me was how much the museum was totally about the UK / RAF perspective of how they defeated the Kaiser, the Nazis, and were still fighting the Cold War alone w all-indigenous equipment. Which was mostly a comment on my own ignorant jingoistic US-centric perspective, not a criticism of their perspective.
IMO any military or aviation enthusiast should visit the main museum(s) of an ally and a current or former enemy.
I would love to tour Russia and visit every military museum I could. I may not live long enough that Russia would reliably let me in & out, & the US would reliably let me back. Crap. Shoulda done that 10 years ago.
There’s a new-ish (opened in 1997) hall dedicated to US aircraft now. They’ve got an SR-71 that you can touch if no one is looking. The only one on display outside the US. And a B52 hanging from the ceiling that dwarfs everything else.
Thanks for posting! I checked their website and they allow non-DOD personnel to enter again! For a long time you could not get on the base without a CAC, so that left non-DOD personnel off the access list. They have relaxed the rules again such that US citizens with proper IDs will be allowed entrance. It isn’t particularly easy, from the website, but it is possible. That is good news. It has been a long time since I visited the NAS museum and I look forward to visiting again.
I was last there (NAS Pensacola) in 2018. There were zero issues getting on base as a generic civilian. Show a driver’s license at the gate and go “aboard” as the Navy says. This was not just a road to the museum; we had the run of the base. Although little else was of any use or interest to a civilian.
I’ve seen Lancasters flying at Oshkosh. Just hearing the engines as it flew over was a real treat. It’s one of a handful of planes that most of the pilots at the show will stop whatever they’re doing and watch it go by.
I would like to see the Sunderland and Solent. They had a patented flap system that everybody seemed to make their own version of. The Sunderland looks like the step is more blended into the body than other seaplanes I’ve seen. I assume it’s ported. I’d like to see it up close.
The museum was closed after a foreign military officer (saudi) shot and killed three people in 2019.
Note that the attack was ON THE BASE, not in the museum, perpetrated by someone invited in and (one would think) vetted, but the Brass went all chicken shit and closed the museum. It does seem that it is open again, Common sense returned I guess.
I didn’t know about the closure when I attempted to visit the museum in 2021. Not only did I not get in, the guard at the main gate asked my for my ID and entered my info in a log book before he sent me on my way. I guess the base commander was extremely security minded.
The Navy being what it is, the base commander the day of the shooting was probably replaced. And the new guy in that role wasn’t going to take chances.
As the OP, it’s time for me to give my trip report from a week ago. I convinced the daughter and her husband to carve out three hours for us to spend there. I enjoyed it immediately, recognizing so many significant and interesting items. My daughter was skeptical about visiting, so I wondered if she would appreciate why these items were produced and used. After seeing some of the explanatory placards and the effort that went into making these aircraft, she enjoyed the museum much more.
The space wing (with some amazingly weird stuff), with the X-15 and the Apollo 15 capsule, along with the Air Force One planes, made it a worthwhile stop for all off us. I don’t think I could pick out my favorite, but I admit my jaw dropped when I saw the actual Memphis Belle. And a SR-71. And a B-52. And a B-2. And (getting my map out) too much more to list here. Impressive! And the staff and volunteers were very helpful and eager to talk with us.
In the OP I mentioned that I was there for a drumline competition, held yearly in Dayton. I talked later with several high-school band directors, and they all brought their kids there for an hour or two. My granddaughter wasn’t quite as impressed though, and you might imagine from a teenager.
I’m glad we made the trip, and I appreciate all the comments and suggestions made here.
Woo Hoo. I found it. I was at the museum today and found something I’ve been looking for for years. Awhile back I found a 15" propeller in an antique store and researched the label on it. It was from the Liberty propeller company. They had to change their name because there was a Liberty engine at the time.
It turns out it wasn’t a propeller but a turbine blade for a generator. Essentially the predecessor for the aviation RAT (Ram Air Turbine). And today I saw a plane in the museum with the turbine blade/generator. It was a De Havilland DH-4..
Next to the airplane is the Liberty engine which powered it. The same engine that caused the Liberty Propeller Company to change it’s name to Hartzell. That company is just North of Dayton and started from a suggestion from Orville Wright that Robert Hartzell use his walnut trees to make propellers.
This plane was built in the US under license by the Wright Airplane company in Dayton Ohio during WW-1. It was also a flying test bed at McCook Airfield in Dayton which was a precursor to Wright Patterson Air Force base where the museum is at. The Liberty engine’s electronics came from Delco which was another Dayton company.
A lot of local history surrounds that little turbine blade.
You are welcome back anytime. We have a car show every year that’s worth seeing. The Dayton Concours Show. It is a show that centers around a theme car and is then back-filled with a wonderfully eclectic selection of cars. It’s like visiting Jay Leno’s garage. It’s held at Carrilon Park which is a local version of the Henry Ford Museum. It’s actually a phenomenal historical park in it’s own right and probably the best of it’s kind in the state. You could make a nice 3 day weekend of it including the Air Force museum.