6/17 - Air Force Museum, Day 1

Being a very hot and humid day, it was a good one to spend inside.  The National Museum of the United States Air Force (it's official name) is huge, made up of four very large hangars which are impossible to photograph in their entirety from ground level.  The best I could do was the entrance and movie theater.

Museum entry with movie theater to the left.

It's set up in chronological order starting with the Wright Brothers and their flying experiments at Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills.  

The Wright Brothers' 1909 Military Flyer.

It's astounding how much progress was made between the Wrights' first powered air machine (not called an airplane at that point) in 1905 and the planes which were flown just 12 years later in WWI like the Sopwith Camel which had a top speed of 117 mph and ceiling of 19,000 ft. Once the Wrights solved the mysteries of flying (lift, drag, balance, etc.) the industry took off.  One of the things that helped them tremendously in their endeavor was applying what they learned from Wilbur's hours of studying birds in flight, something he was able to do at length while experimenting with their flyers on the Outer Banks where there were masses of birds.

We made it through the Early Days, zipped through WWII (which I barely touched and want to go back to) and did the Southeast Asia section (one and a half hangars total).  I spent so much time in the Early Days section Jim got way ahead of me. Fortunately he had his phone with him so I was able to find him to go eat lunch.

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

It's hard to see the size of this plane in the picture, but it's beyond huge. We've seen B-52s at several air and space museums and I'm always blown away by their size. Both length (159') and wingspan (185') are over half a football field, and top speed is 644 mph.  In the 1960's carrying capacity was increased to 60,000 lbs which is a mind-boggling amount of weight for a plane to carry. I can't help but wonder if the Wright brothers ever imagined what their invention would come to within just 50 years.  The B-52 was introduced in 1955, just seven years after Orville's death.  They were workhorses in Vietnam where Jim was always very happy to see them appear.  

Tomorrow will be another very hot day and we have much left to see at the museum so we will probably take advantage of their air conditioning again.  Jim thought it was hot inside until we left and were nearly bowled over by the sauna-like heat outside.