1100 Spaatz St
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433
(937) 255-3286
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 6mi northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF has one of the world's largest collections with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum draws more than 1.3 million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio.HistoryThe museum dates to 1923, when the Engineering Division at Dayton's McCook Field first collected technical artifacts for preservation. In 1927 it moved to then-Wright Field in a laboratory building. In 1932 the collection was named the Army Aeronautical Museum and placed in a WPA building from 1935 until World War II. In 1948 the collection remained private as the Air Force Technical Museum. In 1954 the Air Force Museum became public and was housed in its first permanent facility, Building 89 of the former Patterson Field in Fairborn, which had been an engine overhaul hangar. Many of its aircraft were parked outside and exposed to the weather. It remained there until 1971, when the current facility first opened. Not including its annex on Wright Field proper, the museum has more than tripled in square footage since its inception in 1971 with the addition of a second hangar in 1988, third in 2003, and fourth in 2016.
Le National Museum of the United States Air Force est le musée officiel de l'US Air Force. Fondé en 1923, il est situé sur la Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, à au nord-est de Dayton en Ohio. Plus de 300 avions et missiles y sont exposés, la plupart à l'intérieur de hangars. L'entrée est gratuite.Le musée possède beaucoup d'avions rares, dont l'un des quatre derniers Convair B-36, le dernier XB-70 Valkyrie et le B-29 Superfortress qui a largué la deuxième bombe atomique durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale.Le musée compte également dans sa collection de nombreux avions présidentiels, dont ceux utilisés par Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman et Dwight D. Eisenhower. La pièce maîtresse des avions présidentiels est le SAM 26000, le premier appareil nommé Air Force One utilisé de John F. Kennedy jusqu'à Richard Nixon, avant de servir d'avion présidentiel de remplacement jusqu'en 1990. Cet avion fut surtout utilisé par Lyndon B. Johnson.