A Brief Stop at the Neil Armstrong Museum

We stopped in Wapakoneta for dinner.  That is the hometown of Neil Armstrong and as you enter town, you pass his museum.  I've passed it several times and have wanted to stop for a while.  Unfortunately, it was closed but I could see a couple things outside.

 This is a mockup of the Apollo capsule.  It's hard to believe three people were in this for the length of the moon mission.

 This is a Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer.  It was originally designed as an interceptor for the Navy but only four were produced.  Two of these planes found their way to NASA and were used for aircraft development.

 This plane was flown by Neil Amstrong to test the abort procedures of another airplane.  The plane was called the Dyna-soar and aspects of it would find it's way to the Space Shuttle.

 After the program was cancelled, this plane was used to test other things.

In 1970, the plane was retired and donated to the museum.

An Interesting Plane

As we left Fairborn, we passed Wright-Patterson Air Force base.  I wasn't going to stop but then I saw an interesting plane.

 This 747 was parked out in front of a control tower.  Except, it's not really a 747, it the E-4 National Emergency Airborne Command Post.  Sometimes it's known as Kneecap and sometimes it is known as the Doomsday plane.  In the event of a nuclear war or other serious event, this plane would carry the President and his security staff.  It was designed to survive an EMP blast and if I remember correctly, could stay airborne for three days.  One of these follows the President when he travels.

 Some C-17 cargo planes.

I was trying to get a better picture of this plane but I couldn't.

F-16 Sculptures in Fairborn, Ohio

We ended up taking a different way home.  We ended up passing through this town called Fairborn.  It is just outside of the Wright-Patterson Air Base.  As we were going by, I noticed some unusual sculptures.

 Anyway, I've seen cows, moose, footballs and now an F-16.  It was kind of cool.  Some of them were simple like this one.

 And some of them were somewhat arty.

 This is a depiction of the downtown.

 One from the Wright State University.

 I'm not sure what company this is.

 An Air Force group.

 I think a camo F-16 would look pretty cool.

 The Veterans Group.

 Amvets.

The history of flight on the wings.

And I kind of liked this one even though it wasn't a painting.

Air Force Museum World War I Dawn Patrol - Part IV

The weather was starting to look like it would get rough so the planes had to come down.  So it was time to leave.

 The Nieuport 23 on the ground.

 Most of the planes that were there were 7/8 scale planes.  This is a 1 to 1 replica of a SPAD VII.  It is being built by a group in Colorado.

 I don't think it is quite ready to fly yet because it has to go through more of the certification process.

 the controls were pretty simple back then.

 Probably one of the more famous planes of the war, the Fokker Triplane.

 Another angle of the plane.

 Another angle of the SPAD.

I really like to see this plane.  I hope it is flying by the time the next one comes around.

Air Force Museum World War I Dawn Patrol Part III

And the Dawn Patrol continues.

 Another Eurocopter from the Miami Valley Hospital.

 I think this is the Nieuport 23 coming in.

 And it passes again.

 This is a Nieuport 12.  It was one of the earlier planes in the war.  Introduced in 1915 and produced until 1918.  It was used by the French, Russians and United Kingdom.  It was also one of the first fighters used by the United States.

 Some more of the re-enactors.

 The Sopwith Schnieder again.  This was also used by the Americans.

 Another view of that plane.

 The Nieuport 12 again.

 The Schneider.

 This is another SE5 produced by the Royal Aircraft Factory.

 Another shot of that.

 The Nieuport 23.

 The Schneider.

 The SE5 again.

 I think this was an early Fokker design.  The real one would have been powered by a Mercedes engine and it was the most advanced fighter by the time it entered the war.  It was also pretty close to the end of the war.

 The Junkers again.

 The Fokker.

 The Nieuport 12 after landing.

And another plane.

Air Force Museum World War I Dawn Patrol - Part II

The static displays were nice but I really went down to Dayton to see the flying displays.  Just so I don't have too many pictures in one post, I decided to split this up a bit. 

 As we got there, they were doing a demonstration of remote control airplanes.  It was pretty neat because they looked almost real.

 Last time I saw this, I was in a cornfield in Indiana.

 I think this one is supposed to be a Sopwith Schneider.  Originally designed to be a sports plane, the war interceded and they were pressed into service as fighters.  It first flew in 1913 and was introduced in 1914.  They were retired in 1915 as they were outmatched by that time.

 The Nieuport 23.

Another picture of the Sopwith Schneider.

 The pilot.

 A Nieuport 17.  This was an earlier version of the 23 above.  It was introduced in March 1916.

 The Nieuport 23 taking off.

 I think this is supposed to be Junkers monoplane.  It was designed as a ground attack plane and first flew in 1917. 

 The Nieuport 17 taking off.

 A mock dogfight.

 The Nieuport again.

 This is a Eurocopter owned by the Miami Valley Hospital.  I couldn't pass up a picture.

 Another shot of the Junkers.

 They had a few ground guys.  I think this guy is supposed to be a British soldier.

 Another dogfight.

 The Nieuport 17 going down.

 The pilot getting helped by US ground forces.

 The Junkers again.

The pilot being put into the ambulance.