2 minute read
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
Dayton
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force dates to 1923, when it opened to the public in an aircraft hangar at the edge of McCook Field near downtown Dayton. The museum’s collection began with World War I airplanes and equipment from the U.S. and foreign governments but has grown to include more than 360 aerospace vehicles, missiles and thousands of aviation artifacts now on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Groups can take a self-guided tour or organize programming that focuses on certain aspects of Air Force history.
Exhibits include the Early Years Gallery, which covers the history of flight from the Wright brothers and their first attempts at building
BY
an aircraft up to the 1940s. There are also galleries dedicated to World War II, the Korean War, Southeast Asia War and Cold War. The Missile Gallery details the Air Force’s key role in strategic nuclear deterrence, while the Space Gallery features NASA’s first Crew Compartment Trainer, which was used to train space shuttle astronauts.
The Presidential Gallery is home to 10 historical aircraft that served U.S. presidents through the years and allows visitors to walk through four of them, including planes used by Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Truman, as well as the Air Force One plane that served eight presidents from Kennedy to Clinton. Along with more than 19 acres of indoor exhibits, the museum has a Memorial Park and an outdoor Air Park, which displays aircraft and a World War II control tower.
NATIONALMUSEUM.AF.MIL
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center CINCINNATI
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati doesn’t just tell the story of African American history, the Civil War or slavery. Its galleries trace the history of slavery in the U.S. from the 1600s through the end of the Civil War, discuss the founding of the United States and the creation of the Declaration of Independence, and explore the abolition movement, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force dates to 1923, when it opened to the public in an aircraft hangar in Dayton.
The museum’s exhibits hold incredible artifacts that belonged to important figures in the African American fight for freedom. An immersive theater presents a film called “Brothers of the Borderland” that re-creates what it would have been like for a group of people trying to escape slavery, including the sights and sounds, which heighten the sense of danger and fear.
An exhibit called Invisible: Slavery Today explores modern slavery in the forms of human trafficking, slave labor and sex slavery around the world.
One of the most powerful exhibits is an authentic slave pen that was recovered less than 50 miles away in Kentucky. Guests can walk inside the wooden structure and see the tight quarters and the iron rings where slaves would have been shackled.
Groups can organize a docent-led tour of the museum, which is in downtown Cincinnati, right on the banks of the Ohio River.
FREEDOMCENTER.ORG
