The National Museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the service’s national institution for preserving and presenting the Air Force story. Each year about one million visitors come to the museum to learn about the mission, history and evolving capabilities of America’s Air Force.

The fourth building, which opened in June 2016, includes the Space Shuttle Exhibit featuring NASA’s first Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT-1) that was used to train astronauts on operating the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and highlights the long history of the USAF/NASA partnership. The building also features a world-class collection of experimental and presidential aircraft, including the only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie, and Air Force One, SAM (Special Air Mission) 26000, a Boeing VC-137C that served eight presidents, as well as large cargo aircraft such as the C-141C Hanoi Taxi, which airlifted the first American prisoners of war to freedom from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi, North Vietnam, on Feb. 12, 1973.

Education and Events

Animating the Air Force story, the museum offers a wide variety of special events and educational programs to connect the service with the public. Through its education office, the museum has more than 203,000 contacts each year with students, teachers, youth groups and family members through hands-on learning activities, workshops, tours and curriculum materials. In doing so, the museum helps inspire tomorrow’s Airmen and cultivates future air power advocates.

The museum manages hundreds of special events a year. Favorites include the biennial World War I Dawn Patrol Rendezvous, Space Fest, the Giant Scale Radio-Controlled Model Aircraft Air Show, concerts featuring the Air Force Band of Flight, “Plane Talks” history moments and more.

History

The National Museum of the United States Air Force traces its birth to 1923 at McCook Field near Dayton; it moved to Wright Field in 1927. The museum closed from 1940 to 1955 due to urgent need for administrative space to support the war effort.

In 1960 local interest in aviation history led to the creation of the Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., to secure funds for the museum. A nationwide fund-raising campaign resulted in the construction of a new facility in the late 1960s, with President Richard Nixon dedicating the new building in September 1971. In 1976 the foundation donated an addition to that building, and in 1988 the foundation and federal government funded equally a second exhibit building. The IMAX Theatre and atrium opened in 1991. In 2003 the museum opened the 200,000 square-foot Eugene W. Kettering Cold War Gallery, the first phase of a major expansion. A Missile and Space Gallery constructed as a missile silo, opened in 2004, and the theatre underwent an $800,000 renovation in 2012 as part of its conversion to a 400-seat digital 3D theatre. Implementation of the third phase of the expansion plan, privately financed by the Foundation, was construction of a 224,000 square-foot fourth building, which opened to the public in 2016.

Air Force Museum Foundation

The Air Force Museum Foundation, Inc., was chartered in 1960 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that assists in the development and expansion of the facilities of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. In addition, the foundation provides funds each year to the museum for special projects and underwrites several programs involving a wide range of activities geared toward education, volunteer support, special events, and promotional efforts. The foundation operates the Museum Store, Digital 3D Theatre, and simulators including Interactive Flight Simulators, MovieRide and Virtual Reality Transporter as well as the Valkyrie and Refueling Cafés. It receives its funds through the operation of these activities as well as primarily through foundation membership, donations and gifts. For more information, visit www.afmuseum.com.

Location, Hours and Website

The museum is located six miles northeast of Dayton, accessed easily off Interstates 70 and 75 to Interstate 675, exit 15, which is the Colonel Glenn Highway exit.

The museum is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Parking and admission are free; however, there is a charge for the Air Force Museum Theatre and interactive simulators. For more information, visit the museum on the Web at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil. To experience a virtual tour of the museum, visit www.nmusafvirtualtour.com. For more information, contact the Public Affairs Division, 1100 Spaatz Street, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, 45433-7102; (937) 255-1337, 255-1386 or 255-1283.

Revised December 2021

The National Museum of the United States Air Force is internationally acclaimed as the world’s largest and oldest military aviation museum. It is located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, home of the Wright brothers.

Thanks to the Air Force Museum Foundation, a philanthropic, non-profit organization founded in 1960, a new $6.5 million museum building opened in 1971 on a 400-acre site at historic Wright Field. President Richard M. Nixon highlighted formal dedication ceremonies in September that year. Public contributions covered the entire cost of the 800-by-240-foot building, which was designed especially for display of aircraft and provided indoor protection for nearly 100 aircraft. The museum added a $1 million visitor reception center in 1976, again through contributions made by the public to the foundation.

A twin hangar storage facility, housing about 30 aircraft, opened in 1977 on the old Wright Field flight line, about one mile from the main museum complex and housed the museum’s presidential aircraft collection and research and development aircraft until they were moved to the fourth building in 2016.

During the 1980s, the museum supervised the development of a Memorial Park on a portion of its 400-acre site. More than 600 memorials have been dedicated to commemorate the military service of individuals and organizations. Interested citizens financed each memorial, whether a tree with a simple plaque or an elaborate granite monument.

A major museum expansion, the building that now houses the Korean War and Southeast Asia War Galleries, opened in April 1988. The foundation and federal government jointly funded the $10.8 million facility, which is parallel to and similar in appearance to the 1971 museum building.

In October 1989 the Air Force Museum Foundation awarded a contract to the B.G. Danis Company/Building Division of Dayton for the construction of an IMAX Theatre. The 500-seat IMAX Theatre, constructed in front of and connected to the existing museum buildings, opened in May 1991. An 80-foot-high glass atrium over the expanded lobby serves as the architectural focal point for the entire $7.3 million complex. The theatre underwent an $800,000 renovation in 2012 as part of its conversion to a 400-seat digital 3D theatre.

In 2003 the museum opened the 200,000 square-foot third building, the Eugene W. Kettering Cold War Gallery. The first phase of the museum’s expansion, the new building allowed the museum to expand its exhibit space and reconstitute the flow of its galleries into a more chronological order. As a result of the additional space, the museum developed an area dedicated to telling the story of the U.S. Air Force in the Cold War and beyond. This area illuminates the people, technology, missions and weapon platforms that helped democracy triumph over communism.

The next expansion phase was the Missile Gallery, which opened in 2004. The gallery functions in concert with the Cold War Gallery to tell the story of the Air Force’s vital role in strategic nuclear deterrence. It temporarily houses elements of the space collection, and over time much of that content will be migrated to the new Space Gallery. The foundation gifted a total of $24 million for the Cold War and Missile Galleries.

In 2016 a 224,000 square-foot fourth building, dedicated to four important elements in the history of the Air Force, was completed. The facility includes a Space Gallery portraying the Air Force’s past, present and future in space, the Presidential Gallery to display the museum’s one-of-a-kind presidential aircraft fleet, the Research and Development Gallery representing advances in technological problem solving and the Global Reach Gallery highlighting the Air Force’s airlift and humanitarian missions.  

The new additions to the main museum complex as well as the two hangars on the old Wright Field flight line provide more than 19 acres of indoor exhibition space — a far cry from the 8,100 square feet of the 1927-1935 era.

In October 2004 the museum announced its official re-designation from the United States Air Force Museum to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The name underscores the museum’s national mission, reinforces its world-class collection, and places it at a name level with industry peers such as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Florida, and the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia.

Although the Air Force operates the museum through government appropriated funds, the Air Force Museum Foundation operates the Museum Store, Digital 3D Theatre and simulators including Interactive Flight Simulators, MovieRide and Virtual Reality Transporter as well as the Valkyrie and Refueling Cafés. Proceeds are used to support museum activities and to remodel or expand museum facilities. “Friends of the Air Force Museum,” created by the foundation in 1978, is an organization of aviation enthusiasts who support the museum. For an annual fee, members receive a quarterly Friends Journal, discounts in the Museum Store and other benefits.

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their missions. The exhibit allows visitors to experience a full-size representation of a NASA space shuttle payload bay, which displays a Teal Ruby satellite, and look into the flight deck and mid-deck levels of the CCT. The gallery also includes the massive 96-ton Titan IVB space launch vehicle, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, and several experimental aircraft and even balloon gondolas that helped pave the way to space flight. Formerly top-secret satellites and related items will showcase the Air Force’s vast reconnaissance, early warning, communications and other space-based capabilities.

Presidential Gallery

The museum is the repository for Air Force aircraft that have been retired from the presidential aircraft fleet. The William E. Boeing Presidential Gallery features 10 historical aircraft representing more than 70 years of dedicated presidential service. Visitors can walk through four of them, including the VC-54C Sacred Cow used by President Roosevelt, the VC-121E Columbine III used by President Eisenhower, the VC-118 The Independence used by President Truman and the VC-137C, also known as Air Force One, Special Air Mission (SAM) 26000, that served eight presidents including Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. SAM 26000 carried President Kennedy’s body back to Washington, D.C. from Dallas after his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, and served as the location where President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president.

Research and Development Gallery

The world’s largest collection of test aircraft under one roof is on display in the Maj. Gen. Albert Boyd and Maj. Gen. Fred Ascani Research and Development (R&D) Gallery. The centerpiece of the gallery is the world’s only remaining XB-70A Valkyrie. A very popular artifact for visitors, the Mach 3 (2,000+ mph) Valkyrie was a highly-advanced aircraft tested in the 1960s.The R&D Gallery’s diverse collection ranges from World War II up to the present, representing advances in technological problem solving and increasing the museum’s opportunities to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) themes and principles.

Global Reach Gallery

An important element of Air Force history is told in the Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner Global Reach Gallery. Providing airlift remains a major mission of the U.S. Air Force and it forms a critical part of the Air Force’s ability to maintain global reach. Visitors can walk through three of the four aircraft featured in this gallery – the C-141C Hanoi Taxi, which airlifted the first American prisoners of war to freedom from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi, North Vietnam, in 1973, as well as the C-82 and C-130E. The gallery also includes the C-21, which was used for airlift and aeromedical evacuations.

Outdoor Exhibits

Along with its more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space, the museum offers a Memorial Park and an outdoor Air Park, which includes aircraft, a World War II Control Tower and Nissen Hut.

The museum’s Memorial Park honors Air Force-associated people and units for their past service and sacrifice in the cause of freedom. The first memorial dedicated at the museum was a commemorative tree and plaque dedicated in October 1972 to those Americans held as prisoners of war by the North Vietnamese and those missing in action during the Southeast Asia War. Since then, the park has grown to more than 620 memorials, including statuary memorials, plaques, trees and benches.

Also located in the Air Park, the replica 8th Air Force Control Tower represents those used by the U.S. Army Air Forces and Royal Air Force units at various air bases in Great Britain, allowing air traffic control personnel to direct aircraft takeoffs and landings at the field. Next to the 8th Air Force Control Tower, the Nissen Hut portrays a 1940s bar and briefing room of an Army Air Corps Fighter Escort Squadron stationed in England. Photos, music and mannequins create an authentic mood, with scenes depicting a pre-mission briefing and Airmen winding down with a game of cards and checkers as music stirs from a phonograph.

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Computer, network, and functional database support are managed for the entire organization as well. Staff manages and monitors plans, programs, and compliance affecting the museum and the USAF’s National Historical Collection to ensure sound stewardship and to make Air Force heritage available to a broad audience. Staff members conduct research and analysis and provide technical and professional guidance to the USAF Heritage Program. They help showcase USAF heritage throughout the world, including acquisition of aerospace vehicles and artifacts in addition to reviewing and certifying prospective borrowing organizations. The division develops and oversees online museum exhibits; manages an exchange program, exchanging excess items for goods and services that directly benefit the historical collection; develops and manages the museum’s strategic plan; and administers matters pertaining to institutional and policy alignment with the Air Force.

Operations

The Operations Division manages the museum’s more than one million square feet of facilities and grounds and helps ensure the safety of visitors, staff and volunteers and the security of the historical collection. Division staff members provide vital logistical and security support to museum events and are responsible for working with the Air Force Museum Foundation on museum expansion efforts.

Public Affairs

Seeking to expand museum visibility regionally, nationally and globally, the Public Affairs Division promotes the institution’s activities, initiatives and achievements to the public through tourism agencies, news media, community groups and historical organizations. The division builds awareness of the museum and America’s Air Force through its development of a variety of promotional materials, advertising and marketing initiatives, media interface and management of the museum’s website and social media networks.

Research

Serving on multiple fronts, the Research Division ensures that timely, relevant and accurate Air Force historical information is presented to the public through a variety of means. The division manages the museum’s ever-expanding document and imagery collection, researches and writes exhibit text, and provides historical guidance for exhibit development, aircraft restoration, staff projects and public and media queries. Staff members assist in many other ways, leading tours, delivering talks to local and national audiences, and participating in media interviews, among other activities.

Restoration

Preserving the Air Force’s proud legacy, the Restoration Division restores aerospace vehicles to historically accurate and visually striking levels. Division members are well versed in a variety of skills, ranging from machine and woodworking expertise to precision craftsmanship in sheet metal and painting. Their knowledge of aircraft spans years of technology — from World War I fabric-covered aircraft to the elite fighters of today’s Air Force. Restoration workers maintain the museum’s vast aircraft collection, move aircraft into exhibit position and work hand-in-hand with the Exhibits and Research Divisions and museum management on ever-changing gallery displays. The Restoration Division relies heavily on a dedicated, talented cadre of volunteers in accomplishing its mission.

Special Events

Each year, the Special Events Division plans and executes hundreds of events that help convey the Air Force story and the military aviation spirit. Indoor and outdoor events range from flying events and Air Force Band of Flight concerts to ceremonies and living history events. Special events staff support aircraft rollouts, exhibit openings, reunion groups and memorial dedications. Prominent recurring major events include the biennial World War I Dawn Patrol Rendezvous and the Giant Scale Radio-Controlled Model Aircraft Air Show. A vital part of the Special Events Division is the museum’s Volunteer Resources Program. This essential program provides a multi-million dollar asset in terms of human resources to the USAF. Volunteers staff the exhibit galleries and buildings, providing visitor services and additional security for the museum collection. They also provide outstanding support services to many other divisions within the museum. 

Revised Sep 2017

In recent years, the National Museum of the United States Air Force™ has continued to add historically significant aircraft to its collection and further develop the storyline contained in its galleries. Foreseeing continued growth, museum officials and the Air Force Museum Foundation, a philanthropic, non-profit organization created in 1960 to assist the museum when federal funds are not available, recognized a need for added facilities and created a multi-phase, long-term facility expansion plan.

96-ton Titan IVB space launch vehicle, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, and several experimental aircraft and even balloon gondolas that helped pave the way to space flight.  Formerly top-secret satellites and related items will showcase the Air Force’s vast reconnaissance, early warning, communications and other space-based capabilities.

William E. Boeing Presidential Gallery

The museum is the repository for Air Force aircraft that have been retired from the presidential aircraft fleet. The Presidential Gallery features 10 historical aircraft representing more than 70 years of dedicated presidential service. Visitors can walk through four of them, including the VC-54C Sacred Cow used by President Roosevelt, the VC-121E Columbine III used by President Eisenhower, the VC-118 The Independence used by President Truman and the VC-137C, also known as Air Force One, Special Air Mission (SAM) 26000, that served eight presidents including Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. SAM 26000 carried President Kennedy’s body back to Washington, D.C. from Dallas after his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, and served as the location where President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president.

Maj. Gen. Albert Boyd and Maj. Gen. Fred Ascani Research and Development Gallery

The world’s largest collection of test aircraft under one roof are on display in the Research and Development (R&D) Gallery. The centerpiece of the gallery is the world’s only remaining XB-70A Valkyrie. A very popular artifact for visitors, the Mach 3 (2,000+ mph) Valkyrie was a highly-advanced aircraft tested in the 1960s.The R&D Gallery’s diverse collection ranges from World War II up to the present, representing advances in technological problem solving and increasing the museum’s opportunities to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) themes and principles.

Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner Global Reach Gallery

An important element of Air Force history is told in the Global Reach Gallery. Providing airlift remains a major mission of the U.S. Air Force and it forms a critical part of the Air Force’s ability to maintain global reach. Visitors can walk through three of the four aircraft featured in this gallery – the C-141C Hanoi Taxi, which airlifted the first American prisoners of war to freedom from Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi, North Vietnam, in 1973, as well as the C-82 and C-130E. The gallery also includes the C-21, which was used for airlift and aeromedical evacuations.

STEM Learning Nodes

A very special feature of the fourth building is the addition of three separate STEM Learning Nodes. These special educational environments enable the museum to meet one of its core missions: to educate and inspire our youth, especially encouraging them to excel in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Revised Sep 2017

Memphis Belle™

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force placed one of the most famous aircraft in U.S. history, the B-17F Memphis Belle™, on public display in May 2018. The Memphis Belle was the first U.S. Army Air Forces heavy bomber to return to the United States after completing 25 missions over Europe. Upon its return to the United States in June 1943, the Memphis Belle’s crew flew the aircraft across the country to more than 30 stops on a war bond and morale boosting tour. Plans call for the aircraft to be placed on display in the museum’s World War II Gallery on May 17, 2018 - exactly 75 years after its crew finished their last mission in the war against Nazi Germany on May 17, 1943. 

STEM learning opportunities
 

The fourth building's opening in 2016 also brought new STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning opportunities to America’s youth. Three dedicated, interactive educational spaces, known as STEM Learning Nodes, can accommodate student-centered, technology-enhanced learning through hands-on programs, demonstrations and lectures. When not in use for structured educational programming, there are a variety of programs available to the visiting public, including science and engineering demonstrations, hands-on activities, special presentations, videos and more.

Rare, one-of-a-kind and historic attractions
 

The museum is home to rare, one-of-a-kind and historic aircraft, and exhibits and significant aircraft are added to the collection each year. Popular attractions include the world’s only permanent public displays of a B-2 stealth bomber and F-22A Raptor; Air Force One, Special Air Mission (SAM) 26000, used by eight presidents, and other presidential aircraft; the world’s only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie; the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, in World War II; sections of the Berlin Wall; a Bob Hope exhibit; and much more.

Fun for all ages
 

The museum has something for the entire family! From monthly Family Day activities to summer Aerospace Camps to home school programs, the museum’s Education Division has more than 203,000 contacts with adults and students each year, teaching them U.S. Air Force history and the science of aviation. In addition, the museum hosts hundreds of special events that help convey the Air Force story and the military aviation spirit, including flying events, exhibit openings and aircraft roll-outs, Air Force Band of Flight concerts, ceremonies and guest lecturers.

Virtual Tour
 

The museum’s interactive 360-degree virtual tour gives online visitors a chance to explore the museum at their leisure, plan future visits and share their experiences with friends and family. The tour includes 92 high-definition panoramic “nodes,” and within each node, aircraft and artifacts are hyperlinked to factsheets, supplemental information and educational tools. In addition, visitors can view more than 80 interactive cockpit photos from some of the museum’s best known aircraft, both on the Virtual Tour or by downloading the free Cockpit360 app from the Apple and Google Play Stores. The virtual tour is located at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Virtual-Tour/

Revised Sep 2017