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Posted: 3/28/2014 6:45:28 PM EDT
I finally made it on the Behind the Scenes tour at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. I've been in the experimental/presidential tour a few times, but I wiggled my way into this limited tour due to some no-shows. It's really cool seeing the storage and restoration hangers, including the Memphis Belle restoration.

Here's an imgur album of pics I took of some favorites in the museum and behind the scenes. Enjoy!
Link Posted: 3/28/2014 7:32:05 PM EDT
[#1]
Very cool, thank you for sharing.
Link Posted: 3/28/2014 9:43:42 PM EDT
[#2]
Thanks for posting the pictures.

For those of you wondering what a SWOOSE looks like:



"IT FLYS"
Link Posted: 3/29/2014 1:42:27 PM EDT
[#3]
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 6:58:47 AM EDT
[#4]
That's awesome
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 10:49:40 AM EDT
[#5]
Awesome, I'm hoping to go there this spring.
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 12:55:30 PM EDT
[#6]
Very cool, thanks!
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 3:04:21 PM EDT
[#7]
very nice pics.. thanks.   I used to work in those hangers on restorations.
it was used as training during my Air Force Reserves weekend duty.
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 7:18:22 PM EDT
[#8]
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Awesome, I'm hoping to go there this spring.
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Get on their website and register for any tours you want to take as soon as possible.
Link Posted: 3/30/2014 10:15:38 PM EDT
[#9]
Thanks, will check that out.
Link Posted: 3/31/2014 5:27:31 PM EDT
[#10]
Excellent!
Link Posted: 4/1/2014 6:13:01 PM EDT
[#11]
Thank you for sharing...
Link Posted: 4/4/2014 3:08:18 PM EDT
[#12]
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Quoted:
Very cool, thank you for sharing.
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Link Posted: 4/4/2014 6:05:22 PM EDT
[#13]
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Very cool, thank you for sharing.



My pleasure!
Link Posted: 4/4/2014 10:00:03 PM EDT
[#14]
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Quoted:
Very cool, thank you for sharing.
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+1   Reminds me a little of a tour I took about 17-18 years ago, of a National Air & Space Museum warehouse/restoration facility in Maryland. It was crammed full of old planes, including the disassembled Enola Gay, which, as most of you know,  is now on display at the Udvar-Hazey facility near Dulles airport.
Link Posted: 4/6/2014 12:35:13 AM EDT
[#15]
What kind of plane is next to the F-32?
Link Posted: 4/6/2014 7:11:58 AM EDT
[#16]

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Quoted:


What kind of plane is next to the F-32?
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This one to the left of the X-32?  That is the Fairchild Republic T-46 (USAF Ser. No. 84-0493), slated to replace the Cessna T-37 Tweet, but ultimately cancelled.  Sadly, the cancellation of the T-46 was the harbinger of the end of Fairchild Republic as an aircraft manufacturer on Long Island.  The T-46 was a fine design and would have be an ideal replacement for the T-37, but the initial aircraft were poorly assembled, overweight (as is typical for prototype and early production aircraft) and Bob Dole (from Kansas, the home of Cessna) and others looking to take a bite out of the defense budget in the 80s had the program in their sights and it was cancelled. "Coincidentally," with the death of the T-46, Cessna got a significant contract to extend the lives of the T-37s in the inventory.  



If the T-46 program went ahead the weight and assembly issues would have been resolved (as they have been for almost every new design) and our aviators would not be training on Swiss-designed turboprops today, and it is very likely that Fairchild Republic, builders of the A-10 (note the "family" resemblance), would have developed an AT-46 COunter INsurgency (COIN) variant, that I would venture to guess would have been a pretty popular and useful aircraft over the past 20 years.













Link Posted: 4/6/2014 8:01:37 AM EDT
[#17]
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.
Link Posted: 4/6/2014 7:59:14 PM EDT
[#18]
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Quoted:
This one to the left of the X-32?  That is the Fairchild Republic T-46 (USAF Ser. No. 84-0493), slated to replace the Cessna T-37 Tweet, but ultimately cancelled.  Sadly, the cancellation of the T-46 was the harbinger of the end of Fairchild Republic as an aircraft manufacturer on Long Island.  The T-46 was a fine design and would have be an ideal replacement for the T-37, but the initial aircraft were poorly assembled, overweight (as is typical for prototype and early production aircraft) and Bob Dole (from Kansas, the home of Cessna) and others looking to take a bite out of the defense budget in the 80s had the program in their sights and it was cancelled. "Coincidentally," with the death of the T-46, Cessna got a significant contract to extend the lives of the T-37s in the inventory.  

If the T-46 program went ahead the weight and assembly issues would have been resolved (as they have been for almost every new design) and our aviators would not be training on Swiss-designed turboprops today, and it is very likely that Fairchild Republic, builders of the A-10 (note the "family" resemblance), would have developed an AT-46 COunter INsurgency (COIN) variant, that I would venture to guess would have been a pretty popular and useful aircraft over the past 20 years.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Fairchild_T-46-4.jpg


that's the one. thanks for the info. neat looking little airplane.



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Quoted:
Quoted:
What kind of plane is next to the F-32?
This one to the left of the X-32?  That is the Fairchild Republic T-46 (USAF Ser. No. 84-0493), slated to replace the Cessna T-37 Tweet, but ultimately cancelled.  Sadly, the cancellation of the T-46 was the harbinger of the end of Fairchild Republic as an aircraft manufacturer on Long Island.  The T-46 was a fine design and would have be an ideal replacement for the T-37, but the initial aircraft were poorly assembled, overweight (as is typical for prototype and early production aircraft) and Bob Dole (from Kansas, the home of Cessna) and others looking to take a bite out of the defense budget in the 80s had the program in their sights and it was cancelled. "Coincidentally," with the death of the T-46, Cessna got a significant contract to extend the lives of the T-37s in the inventory.  

If the T-46 program went ahead the weight and assembly issues would have been resolved (as they have been for almost every new design) and our aviators would not be training on Swiss-designed turboprops today, and it is very likely that Fairchild Republic, builders of the A-10 (note the "family" resemblance), would have developed an AT-46 COunter INsurgency (COIN) variant, that I would venture to guess would have been a pretty popular and useful aircraft over the past 20 years.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Fairchild_T-46-4.jpg


that's the one. thanks for the info. neat looking little airplane.




Link Posted: 4/7/2014 7:48:10 AM EDT
[#19]
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Quoted:
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.
View Quote


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 1:50:53 PM EDT
[#20]
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Quoted:


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.

Did you happen to see a T-6 Texan in the restoration hangar?  They new version.  I heard a rumor that one is there.
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 1:54:55 PM EDT
[#21]
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Quoted:

Did you happen to see a T-6 Texan in the restoration hangar?  They new version.  I heard a rumor that one is there.
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Quoted:
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.

Did you happen to see a T-6 Texan in the restoration hangar?  They new version.  I heard a rumor that one is there.


Yup, there was a Texan II with wings removed.
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 1:55:12 PM EDT
[#22]
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 2:53:56 PM EDT
[#23]
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Quoted:


Yup, there was a Texan II with wings removed.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.

Did you happen to see a T-6 Texan in the restoration hangar?  They new version.  I heard a rumor that one is there.


Yup, there was a Texan II with wings removed.

Ha!   That one crashed back in 2008 in Oklahoma.  I flew it a few days prior to the crash.  Had less than 70 hours on the airframe IIRC.  We were wondering where it had gone off to.
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 5:02:21 PM EDT
[#24]
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Quoted:

Ha!   That one crashed back in 2008 in Oklahoma.  I flew it a few days prior to the crash.  Had less than 70 hours on the airframe IIRC.  We were wondering where it had gone off to.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Went to the Presidential/Experimental side a while back and was the only one in that hangar except for the 2 workers up front.   Kind of spooky.  The mannequins in the Presidential aircraft scared the crap out of me.


On my last check in there the mannequins on Kennedy's Air Force One are playing poker. One of the player's hands is aces and eights.

Did you happen to see a T-6 Texan in the restoration hangar?  They new version.  I heard a rumor that one is there.


Yup, there was a Texan II with wings removed.

Ha!   That one crashed back in 2008 in Oklahoma.  I flew it a few days prior to the crash.  Had less than 70 hours on the airframe IIRC.  We were wondering where it had gone off to.


Well to be fair there were a pair of them there, one Navy, one Air Force. One had wing damage, one fuselage damage. They were going to mate the two good parts to make a proper display aircraft.
Link Posted: 4/7/2014 6:40:33 PM EDT
[#25]
It was the AF one tail 851.  Anyways, I digress.   Thanks for posting all those pics!
Link Posted: 4/14/2014 4:44:00 PM EDT
[#26]
Awesome, thanks !

My grandfather worked at WPAFB for 30 years and I was born near there. Some of my fondest memories are going there as a kid while visiting with the grandparents. Brings back lots of memories.
Link Posted: 4/14/2014 6:05:13 PM EDT
[#27]
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It was the AF one tail 851.  Anyways, I digress.   Thanks for posting all those pics!
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That's awesome you have personal interaction with that aircraft. I hope it keeps the tail number and you get to visit it on display someday!
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