Day Six

Went to bed early.  Was awoken at about 2am by an argument going on somewhere. A man and woman shouting at each other, I presumed it was outside the window, but I couldn't be bothered to check. Thought it might end with a gunshot, but it didn't.

Was woken again at 7am by the wall behind our bed being thumped rhythmically. Presumed it was coital activity going on next door, but I couldn't be bothered to check. Thought it might end with a gunshot, but it didn't.

Woke up really late. Ate breakfast in the hotel. We both decided just to have cereal as we had eaten a lot of crap in the last few days. Ate lots of cereal.

Headed out to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Set the sat nav and off we went.

Unfortunately we had a bit of a mare. The sat nav took us to one of the main base entrances not the museum one, although it did say museum when we programmed it. Couldn't find any alternative and we had left the paperwork with the actual address back at the hotel. Had to go back to hotel. Used Wi-Fi in car park to look up the museum website. The address it gave was the same as the sat nav, but it did have alternative one (for a building opposite the entrance) you could use if the sat nav couldn't handle it. Used that one instead. It worked.

When we arrived the car park was very busy. Ended up having to park in Ermington and walk back. Went in. It is a free museum which is incredible considering how big it is. Even with the car park full, there was so much room inside as it takes up three massive hangers.

It was 11am, we had until it closed at 5pm, so decided to start at the beginning and work through. The first hangar was in two sections, origins of flight/WWI and WWII. It was very interesting. We spent a lot of time reading all the exhibits and taking pictures of the planes. There were lots of planes. A lot, lot of planes.

Here are a few of them.

Plane

Plane

Plane

Plane

Big Plane

Two Planes

It was a very thorough section. All sorts of planes and bombs, including a Spitfire, a Messerschmitt, V1 and V2 rockets. Also learnt some interesting facts like that Walt Disney let his animators design insignia for the US Military during WWII for free.

Then all of a sudden we came across something that we didn't know was at the museum, probably the most infamous aircraft of the 20th century. If I tell you it's a B29 bomber called 'Bockscar' you may still be none the wiser. If I tell you it killed 35,000 people and injured 60,000 more, you might have guessed where its target was. It was used in the second and last nuclear attack in history, destroying 44% of Nagasaki.

Bockscar complete with a replica of the Fat Boy bomb it dropped

Now all around the museum it had signs saying don't touch the aircraft, but seeing as this and the Enola Gay are the two most notorious planes on the planet, I felt I could ignore the signs. So I did. Now I can say I have touched the one of the most infamous things of all time. Not often you can say that.

By this time it was about 2pm, so we had spent three hours in the first hangar. The website says to give a whole day to your visit and we were pleased that we had decided to do so. We decided to go and sit in the café and have lunch. It was a good idea as our legs and backs were aching. We discussed that we had noticed that lot of American families had a much older dad with a younger mum, especially those that had oriental wives. Presumed it was because they were all mail order brides.

After lunch we had just over two hours left, so we decided we needed to speed up. We headed to hangar two which housed exhibits from the Korean war and from Vietnam. It included one of the most famous US plane models and pop groups, the B52. It was bloody massive!

Love Shack

We finished off by going into hanger three, the cold war to modern section. Had to whip around it fairly quickly.

Still lots of planes.

More Planes

Did see another iconic plane.

B2 Bomber or Stealth Bomber 

By now time was getting on, so we headed to the shop and then outside to the final handful of planes that are kept outside. Was very hot. Started sweating very quickly, plus it hit 5pm, so headed back to the car to sit in the air conditioning. Decided that it had been a very good day.

Headed back to the hotel, stopping off to get some subs to take back for tea.

Ann is now watching a Harry Potter marathon. Order of the Phoenix and now the Half Blood Prince.

Tomorrow we move on.

Bears seen - 0

Moose Watch - Low

Plane Watch - High

States Visited - 4