Was doing some travelling from TN to MI and stopped in to the museum on the way. Quite an impressive place. Only had time to maybe see 25% of it, you could easily spend all day in there. Lots of planes, great displays and info. Some really great books in the gift shop.

Next time I will allow a whole day and check out some of the movies in the theater as well. If you like planes and / or history at all its a great visit

I've been there several times and it is impressive. However, I spent 15 of my 20 years in USAF working with long range radar and there were thousands of others doing the same, and that museum (which calls itself the National Museum of the Air Force) only has any exhibits of airplanes and a few missiles--the contributions of those many scope watchers and equipment maintainers are totally ignored. You'd think they could at least have ONE old radar set on display, but no, if it didn't have wings it's not important! (Rant off)

I think when this one was decommissioned that it should have been re-erected at the Dayton museum--it was one of 12 of the largest rotating ground radar antennae ever used by USAF (the "sail" was 50' high and 120' across and the rotating structure weighed 70 tons); it rotated at 5 rpm (the antenna tips were going 23mph):

pano3.jpg by David Casteel, on Flickr
This was the prototype in Alabama and the only one mounted on a skeletal tower; the other 11 were atop large buildings 64' square and 85' high and would have been impractical to move.

flashguy

There's an online virtual tour of the USAF museum. It can help you plan your in person visit.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Virtual-Tour/

I was there in 1996. Only got to see the modern planes. We ran out of time. Highly recommend a visit if you're in Ohio.

I was stationed there a couple of times and visited often. Still never saw the whole thing. Everyone who was ever in the Air Force should go at least once.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I've been there several times and it is impressive. However, I spent 15 of my 20 years in USAF working with long range radar and there were thousands of others doing the same, and that museum (which calls itself the National Museum of the Air Force) only has any exhibits of airplanes and a few missiles--the contributions of those many scope watchers and equipment maintainers are totally ignored. You'd think they could at least have ONE old radar set on display, but no, if it didn't have wings it's not important! (Rant off)

flashguy

The Air Force doesn't give a shit about aircraft maintainers, what makes you think they are going to care about non-aircraft maintainers???

I liked the XB-70 best. Huge plane, yet almost as fast as the SR-71.

You know it! You could EASILY spend two days there. Here is a link to the pictures I took when my son and I went there last year.

http://s280.photobucket.com/us...USAF%20Museum%202016

quote:

Originally posted by AirmanJeff:

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I've been there several times and it is impressive. However, I spent 15 of my 20 years in USAF working with long range radar and there were thousands of others doing the same, and that museum (which calls itself the National Museum of the Air Force) only has any exhibits of airplanes and a few missiles--the contributions of those many scope watchers and equipment maintainers are totally ignored. You'd think they could at least have ONE old radar set on display, but no, if it didn't have wings it's not important! (Rant off)

flashguy

The Air Force doesn't give a shit about aircraft maintainers, what makes you think they are going to care about non-aircraft maintainers???

Well, without those radar guys those vaunted fighter pilots would not have known where to go OR how to get back!

flashguy

Flashguy:

Check out this site, lots of radar info. You can also join and get a newsletter.

http://www.radomes.org/

IIRC, they're trying to set up a museum somewhere in Ohio, but not in Dayton.

Was that photo the AN-FPS-35? The one at Montauk AFS is still there:

http://radomes.org/museum/savethe35.html

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Flashguy:

Check out this site, lots of radar info. You can also join and get a newsletter.

http://www.radomes.org/

IIRC, they're trying to set up a museum somewhere in Ohio, but not in Dayton.

Was that photo the AN-FPS-35? The one at Montauk AFS is still there:

http://radomes.org/museum/savethe35.html

I've been a member of Radomes for many years.

The National Air Defense Radar Museum (NADRM) is being set up at the former Bellefontaine Air Force Station at Bellefontaine, Ohio, housed in the former AN/FPS-26 tower. I visited that site a couple of years ago, but a lot has happened since then.

The photo I posted was the AN/FPS-24 at Eufaula AFS, Alabama. I oversaw the maintenance of the one installed at Mt. Hebo AFS, Oregon. None of the AN/FPS-24 antennae still exist anywhere (and it is a crime that one was not kept as a historical exhibit--the AN/FPS-35 at Montauk Point is similar in overall size, but not as bulky, AND it's falling apart. The sheer size of those units should have been worth keeping for historical purposes.

flashguy

I used to skip school and ride my bike to the AF Museum and spend the entire day there.
Far more educational!
Its a must see.
And really the only reason to visit Dayton.

Anyone who has never been, go!!!

I promise you will be amazed, whether you like aircraft or not.

Oh, and the price of admission is pretty hard to beat.

I have been there twice and it is a very worthwhile trip.
My son-in-laws grandpa used to volunteer to lead tours of it. So we have met him there and he gave us the grand tour. He flew for Special forces and special operations during the war in Nam.
If you get a chance visit, like the OP said you need some time to spend there.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:

quote:

Originally posted by AirmanJeff:

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I've been there several times and it is impressive. However, I spent 15 of my 20 years in USAF working with long range radar and there were thousands of others doing the same, and that museum (which calls itself the National Museum of the Air Force) only has any exhibits of airplanes and a few missiles--the contributions of those many scope watchers and equipment maintainers are totally ignored. You'd think they could at least have ONE old radar set on display, but no, if it didn't have wings it's not important! (Rant off)

flashguy

The Air Force doesn't give a shit about aircraft maintainers, what makes you think they are going to care about non-aircraft maintainers???

Well, without those radar guys those vaunted fighter pilots would not have known where to go OR how to get back!

flashguy

Those radars are what got me to the Air Force to begin with. We stayed at a radar site in Michigan while on a trip with the Boy Scouts about 1970. Let us into their inner sanctum, as such, and man was it cool! Dim light, computer screens lit up, neat stuff. The food was great and I thought then that the Air Force would be pretty cool.
Three years later after high school, joined and have never regretted it.

The B36 and The Valkyrie were my favorite.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
The B36 and The Valkyrie were my favorite.

Yeah, they are both excellent.

And they should rename it the "USAF Airplane Museum." They don't even pretend to show anything but airplane exhibits.
I was a space guy, and besides some spy satellites (operated by the NRO) and manned spacecraft, there isn't anything I can get nostalgic about. . .

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Flashguy:

Check out this site, lots of radar info. You can also join and get a newsletter.

http://www.radomes.org/

IIRC, they're trying to set up a museum somewhere in Ohio, but not in Dayton.

Was that photo the AN-FPS-35? The one at Montauk AFS is still there:

http://radomes.org/museum/savethe35.html

Great information. Thanks.

I went through AC&W Radar repair school, stayed and instructed, and then cross-trained out before ever leaving Keesler.

I have some in-laws in Dayton and I don't mind visiting them a couple times a year.

Its out of this world.. Went twice back in '96.

Some folks measure a kid's height once a year and draw a line on something. I take a pic of my son from the same spot each December with him in front of the [google it] "us air force museum b-36 tire".

I agree that not all USAF job roles are represented at the museum. In a past life as a .mil civilian intern, there were a whole bunch of Air Force uniformed roles in the "military industrial complex" supply chain that kept pilots from creating smoking holes with inadequate airframes, engines, fuels, and parts.