Image of the Air Force wings with the museum name underneath

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  • Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220

    This engine is currently not on public display. The high performance Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine is the powerplant for the F-15 Eagle and the majority of F-16 Fighting Falcons. Development of the F100 series began in the late 1960s for the F-X fighter program (which became the F-15 Eagle

  • Putting a Satellite into Orbit

    Sending a satellite into orbit around the earth is not simply a matter of overcoming gravity with the brute force of rocket power. Rather, rocket power helps us use gravity to place a satellite into orbit. The power of the rocket lifts the satellite out of the atmosphere so air friction at high

  • Peacekeeper Re-entry Vehicles & Deployment Bus

    The LMG-118A Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was more powerful and more accurate than the Minuteman III. It carried 10 nuclear weapons in its Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) warhead.The warhead was part of the missile's fourth stage, which consisted of

  • Protecting the Force: Air Base Defense

    "It is easier and more effective to destroy the enemy's aerial power by destroying his nests and eggs on the ground than to hunt his flying birds in the air."- Gen. Giulio Douhet, noted air power writer, in 1921In previous wars, most air bases were far behind the front lines. All of South Vietnam

  • Planes without Pilots: SAC Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA)

    Remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) saw their first widespread combat use during the Southeast Asia War. Strategic Air Command (SAC) remotely piloted AQM-34 Firebees obtained excellent photography of dangerous areas without risking aircrews. First deployed to South Vietnam in 1964, AQM-34s flew

  • PATRICIA LYNN: Taking Away the Night

    PATRICIA LYNN was a highly-classified reconnaissance program using specially-modified RB-57Es. The sophisticated equipment in these aircraft revealed enemy positions and transportation even on the darkest of nights. They also carried optical cameras for day missions. Though there were only six

  • Photo-reconnaissance: Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid

    The majority of Air Force reconnaissance flights in Southeast Asia involved unarmed RF-101C Voodoo and RF-4C Phantom II aircraft. Both were developed from fighter aircraft and had cameras installed in the forward fuselage.Voodoo and Phantom aircrews photographed communist positions in South Vietnam

  • Pratt & Whitney YF119-PW-100L Augmented Turbofan

    This has temporarily been removed from public display.In the 1980s Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., developed the YF119 prototype engine to meet USAF and U.S. Navy requirements for the Advanced Tactical Fighter Demonstration/Validation program. In 1990 it flew in both the

  • Parallel Tracks to Germany

    During World War I, many American "Doughboys" traveled the front in French railcars displaying the notice that each car could carry 40 men or eight horses. Therefore, they quickly became known as "forty and eight" railcars. In World War II, "forty and eights" again transported supplies and troops to

  • Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit

    This exhibit is located in the hallway between the Early Years and Air Power Galleries."Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit" is made up of the photographs, artifacts and memories of people who now live in the Dayton, Ohio, area. Among the contributors are concentration camp survivors and their