August 8, 2012 - Air Mobility Command Museum, Dover
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We vacationed the entire week in Ocean City,
Maryland. Wednesday, I decided to take a break from the beach
so my son-in-law Don and I drove north up the coast to Dover Air
Force Base to see the Air Mobility Command
Museum
. On the way
we checked out Eagle Crest aviation community which until now
I had only seen from the air. Yeah, I wouldn't mind living there.
I was pleasantly surprised how good the air museum was. It's probably the best small air museum
I've been too. Admission was free but they accept donations.
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The air museum was consisted
of everything in this one hangar plus a large static display area outside. The
main things inside were a B-17, C-47 (DC-3) and a Waco transport glider
fuselage. You could get up close to the airplanes: touch and
examine them. I had seen the Waco being restored over at Massey
Airfield. There were lots of knowledgeable docents around for
tours and to answer questions. What I liked about this air
museum was that there was more than just the airplanes. There were lots
of interesting exhibits and placards explaining everything. |
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| Inside the B-17
looking forward. Not rocket science, just aluminum sheet
riveted to bulkheads and longerons. Just like my RV,
only bigger. |
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Check out the manniquin in the ball
turret. Now imagine being in there most of a ten hour combat
mission. What a sight the ball turrett gunners must have had:
hundreds of B-17s in massive formation. |
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| A cockpit replica
of a C-5A Galaxy cargo plane. Pretty spacious! |
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| Yeah, the C-5A can
carry a lot of stuff. |
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| The museum is
receiving a C-5A in March 2013 for their static display area. |
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You could go up into the old control
tower (a newer one is in use across the field). This is the actual
tower; however, they chopped it off so it is not as high as it used to
be. Still, the view of the air base was pretty good from
here. All the planes scene here are part of the museum's
static display. |
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We got to see the Navy's brand new P-8 Poseidon takeoff and land a
couple of times. The P-8 is the replacement for the venerable old
P-3 Orion. It is obviously a 737 airframe but stretched out a
little. I sure would like to go inside and check out the Tactical
Coordinator's station to see what's new!
We also watched a C-5A and C-17 takeoff as well. Impressive
as always. |
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Two big C-141
Starlifters. The C-141 first flew in 1963. The Air Force
bought 284 of them. The aircraft remained in service for over 40
years until the Air Force withdrew the last C-141s from service in 2006,
after replacing the airlifter with the C-17 Globemaster III. |
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| An F-106 Delta
Dart, the backbone of North American air defense. F-106s were
operated out of Dover Air Force Base in the early 70s. |
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| Before the C-141,
there was the C-124 Globemaster II. It entered service in
1950. 449 were built. |
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A Convair C-131 Samaritan, the military version of the Convair
CV-240. I think I once flew on one of these; the Navy owned
it.
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