Road Trip Chronicles Vol. 2: Ohio Rest Stop #0840-USAF Museum (Presidential & R&D Hangars)

So I woke up that Saturday at about seven in the morning, and headed towards Dayton Ohio, to visit the USAF Museum. But on the way there, I had a bit of heart-stopping excitement.

Shortly before I hit the off-ramp for the museum, I called my mom to let her know where I was . She kind of berated me for using the cell phone while driving, but I kind of ignored her. And then I hit the ramp.

If you know the on ramp for US-52 south on 494 west, it was kind of like that. Except this ramp didn't have any 15mph speed limit signs like it should have, and I hit it at about 55. Of course I spun out, and my rear wheels sunk pretty deep into the gravel. If I would have been driving a rear wheel drive car, I would have been screwed.

I arrived at the museum at about 9:15, and signed up for the 9:30 presidential and R&D hangar tour, which you have to take a 15 minute bus ride to another part of the base to get to it.

Only two words can describe the presidential and R&D hangars, and the museum as a whole: Holy Shit.

This is the basically the first thing you see when you walk into the R&D hangar. An XB-70 Valkyrie (the only one left), the Bell X-5 (the only one ever made), an XC-142, and a Bell P-59B, the United States first jet fighter.

(A better picture of the P-59B)

This is one of two XF-85 Goblins built. The Goblin was built to test the idea of the "parasite fighter". It was designed to be carried in the belly of a B-36 Peacemaker, and to be lowered on a trapeeze as a fighter to defend against enemy attacks. The idea never took off.

(X-15)

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took. It's a head on shot of the F-107, which was designed to be the successor to the F-100 Super Saber.
Ahhh, the Piper PA-48 Enforcer. A great idea that never took off. In the early 1970's, the air force needed a new close air support/ground attack aircraft. So Piper decided to heavily modify a pair of P-51 Mustangs, the most notable change being in switching engines from Packard Merlin's to Lycoming Turboprops. The concept didn't take off, and Piper shelved the project. Then in 1979, the Air Force decided to reevaluate the project, and had Piper build two new Enforcers, but the project again failed.
The XF-84H Thunderscreech. Ingredients: 1 F-84H, 1 Turboprop, and 3 Supersonic propellor blades. What do you get? A plane that's a maintenance hog, makes ground crews sick due to the noise, and only makes 12 flights, 11 of which ended in emergency landings.
The Lockheed P-80R was specifically designed to bring the world speed record back to the United States. It has a modified engine, shortened and modified wings, redesigned intakes, a smaller canopy, a modified engine, and all the armament removed. It set the speed record in 1947 of 623.753 mph.
This has to be one of my favorite engines, the Allison V-3420. It's basically two Allison V-1710's, the engines used in planes lik the P-40 and P-38, put together in a W arrangement. It was only used in one airplane, the Fisher P-75 Eagle.
This is FDR's wheelchair elevator on the first Air Force One, the VC-54 Skymaster "Sacred Cow"
This is Eisenhower's Air Force One, VC-121 Constellation "Columbine".

There are so many more airplanes in these hangars, it's unfreaking believable.