It was a hasty decision to head out to The National Museum of the United States Air Force, adding a quick trip to The Wright Brothers’ Memorial and a drive through Huffman Prairie where the Wright Brothers perfected their craft of flying. Their 1904-1905 flyer, which they considered the most important of their flying machines because it was practical, is displayed at Dayton’s Carillon Historical Park.

I was back to my former “dash and flash” where I move quickly, taking photos of the things that interest me. Mostly, I want to see the original cross that marked the European gravesite of Quentin Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Roosevelt, who was killed in his airplane during WWI. I also like to spend some time in The Presidential Hangar going through President Harry Truman’s presidential plane, The Independence (named for his hometown, Independence, Missouri), and the Air Force One, SAM 26000 that flew to Dallas, Texas in November 1963 and to return with the remains of President John F. Kennedy. If you are of a large frame and claustrophobic, this aircraft will be quite a challenge to explore.

The museum was not busy but so many visitors were not conscious of their surroundings, often walking in groups and taking up entire walkways without allowing room for folks needing to pass or approaching them from the front. And, there were several near misses of being slammed due to adults eyeing their phones and not where they were going.

After passing through the WWII exhibit to visit several nostalgic planes, I departed and drove to the nearby Wright Brothers’ Memorial.

The National Museum of the United States Air Force has a number of construction areas within, the first being the entrance returned to where it once was in the 1990s. Throughout the facility, there are pockets of construction that create bottlenecks if folks decide to not move through in a single file.

My PHOTOS of The National Museum of the United States Air Force.

My PHOTOS of The Wright Brothers’ Memorial in east Dayton and Huffman Prairie Flying Field.