USAF Museum

    I got a rare treat this weekend. I got to go to the USAF Museum on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This is actually not a rare feat at all. The darn thing is free to get into. It is a little tough to find though. The way my phone took me sent me half way around the base (which is huge) on a road that only has a 35mph speed limit. This served to build anticipation. The museum is very cool. They have it divided up into sections by era, so if you only want to see one time period you just have to go to that hangar. Or you can make a marathon out of it and see the whole shebang. I went with the marathon shebang. I highly recommend going yourself sometime, but I will relate some of the things I can remember here. Some of the designs of early aircraft were pretty wild. They put together any combination of engine and fuselage design they thought might work better than previous iterations. Airplane design has really progressed right along with engine advancements. The Wright bros were pretty awesome, but a big reason they were able to fly was the development of a small gasoline engine.
    One thing that was very cool to see was the stuff that is currently in service. They have an F-22 Raptor the latest and greatest air superiority fighter. They also have a Global Hawk, an unmanned recon drone. Some of the most impressive planes in the collection are the bombers. Several of these planes are so big that two or three smaller planes are displayed under the wings. Speaking of bombers and wings, they have a B-2 stealth bomber on display. It is an actual fuselage, but it has never flown. It was used in testing wing loads. One of its wings was broken off during testing, so it was no longer fight capable. It was donated to the museum, where the wing was reattached using steel plates. You can barely tell the difference... The highlight of the afternoon was getting to see my personal favorite plane and the best plane in the world. The Lockheed Martin SR-71 Blackbird.

    Record holder for fastest and highest fixed-wing jet. Cussing awesome.

    One bummer of the day was not knowing that there is another two galleries on the controlled access portion of the base. These two areas house the presidential aircraft section and the R&D section. There is a good reason why these planes are not out for just anyone to see. These are the priceless, one-of-a-kind examples of cutting edge aircraft. These include the only surviving North American XB-70 Valkyrie (the other one crashed during a publicity display. not good for business) and one of two surviving X-15 rocket planes. I am going to have to go back and see these areas. Too awesome to pass up.

"Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"