Saturday morning, we went and picked up the kids, and headed off to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The museum is huge, taking up three huge hangers, arranged by WWI, WWII, Cold War, and Missiles/Space. The picture to the left was taken on my cell phone by my son (and it only took me an hour to figure out how to upload from the camera, download to the computer, and upload to this entry). It is very humbling, what you see is a bomber and two nuclear bomb casings (post WWII, but bigger in mega-tonnage that the ones actually dropped on Japan).
As Beth wrote on her journal at Nutwood Junction, "There are planes galore (obviously), displayed on the ground and hanging from the ceiling. I think one of the coolest was the B2 Bomber (AKA the Stealth Bomber). What an incredible piece of machinery, and SO cool-looking. I was also surprised to see a section devoted to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps--quite a few Allied soldiers were sent to them when they were captured. It was very well done, and very upsetting (as it should be, in my opinion). Since it was a small section, it doesn't have the impact that The Holocaust Museum does, where you're completely immersed in it for the entire day, but it was still a good exhibit. My stepdaughter said that was her favorite, because she's studied about that in school...they had several warheads on display--actual ICBM's and IRBM's. For Ken and I, who remember The Cold War and the threat of being nuked out of existence, it's pretty chilling to see a physical manifestation of complete and utter destruction. "
We ended the museum tour by sitting in for an IMAX theater movie - Operation Red Flag, about the two week training session that is provided to new pilots (if a new pilot survives his first ten missions, then their odds of having a career "skyrocket" (pun intended).
We ended the day by heading out to Starbucks for a "brain freeze" for three of us, and milk and cookies for my son. All in all, a great two days, and we still have tomorrow to R&R. Hope you are all having a great weekend and that your weather is as nice as ours has been.
4 comments:
that museum would have been enjoyable to see; I like places like that
and to end the day with Starbucks is always a good thing
betty
Sounds like you had a great time. I would love to see that museum. My dad was career AF and I did my time as I am a Vietnam Vet doing a tour in the AF.
Joyce
Ending the day by heading to Starbucks works for me. I sometimes start the day that way also. Kidlets I don't have, raising a kitten is hard work(this indicates I was right not to have children ;-0). ~Mary
I am quiter impressed that you were able to get the photo from the cell phone to the computer. I still have trouble with this little feat! The museum sounds great but my real thrill would have been freezing my brain at Starbucks!--Sheria
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