In support of an official event 

The Museum will be closed Sunday, May 25
In addition, the Presidential Gallery will be closed Saturday, May 24

Normal hours will resume on Monday, May 26
 

Story Ideas

The National Museum of the United States Air Force offers the media a wide range of interesting and unique topics that can serve as the basis for an attractive feature story. Particular possibilities include:

NASA Crew Compartment Trainer
Work continues on the NASA Crew Compartment Trainer (CCT) exhibit in the museum's Cold War Gallery. This high-fidelity representation of a Space Shuttle Orbiter crew station was used primarily for on-orbit crew training and engineering evaluations. The CCT was placed on display in August 2012, and Display Dynamics, Inc., is in the process of reproducing a full-scale mock-up of a NASA shuttle payload bay, engine and tail sections and a dedicated educational area, which are scheduled to be installed by September 2013. Four smaller contracts related to the exhibit also are in the works.

50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination
On Nov. 22, the nation will commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The museum has on display SAM 26000, the Air Force One that carried President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. It was on this airplane that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new president, and SAM 26000 then carried Kennedy's body and President Johnson back to Washington, D.C. (Note: The Presidential Gallery is closed until further notice as part of budget reduction requirements due to sequestration. Media wishing to cover this aircraft must contact the Public Affairs Division well in advance.)

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. A new feature in 2013 is the addition of interactive cockpit photos from some of the museum's best known aircraft. The tour is located at www.nmusafvirtualtour.com.

Southeast Asia War 50th Anniversary Commemoration
The museum is in the midst of the complete renovation of its Southeast Asia War Gallery. Started in the fall of 2010 and continuing over four phases, the gallery renovation is being completed in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first official U.S. Air Force campaign in Southeast Asia. The gallery features more than 25 aircraft, including the recently restored HH-3E helicopter, B-57 bomber and C-7 transport, and the Southeast Asia story is explained in 12 chapters, including themes such as Operation Rolling Thunder, the Tet Offensive and Operation Linebacker. More information about the renovation is available at http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/sea.asp.

Go Behind the Scenes
So much more takes place away from the day-to-day public view to enable the museum to tell the Air Force and military air power story to its more than one million annual visitors. Go behind the scenes to see how the museum restores aircraft, builds sensory exhibits, manages its massive artifact collection and cares for its valuable historical document and photo collection. Current restoration projects include the B-17F Memphis Belle® and many others.

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; President Kennedy's Air Force One 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 biannual home school programs, the museum's Education Division has more than 160,000 contacts with adults and students each year, teaching them U.S. Air Force history and the science of aviation.