Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Move to the Tuskegee Airmen exhibit. During World War II, the U.S. military was racially segregated. Reflecting American society and law at the time, most black soldiers and sailors were restricted to labor battalions and other support positions. An experiment in the U.S. Army Air Forces, however, showed that given equal opportunity and training, African-Americans could fly in, command and......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Go through the Holocaust Exhibit and into the World War II Gallery and to the nose of the B-25 Mitchell. On April 18, 1942, 80 men achieved the unimaginable when they took off from the aircraft carrier the USS Hornet on a top secret mission to bomb Tokyo, Japan. Led by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, these men came to be known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders. Although the Tokyo Raid caused only......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Next to the Hawker Hurricane is the Eagle Squadrons exhibit. In front is a glass case that contains information on another Ohio aviator. Piqua native Dominic “Don” Gentile learned to fly in high school. He tried to enlist in the Air Corps after graduation but was refused because he lacked the required two years of college. Desperate to fly, he turned to the Royal Air Force in England......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Stand near the red Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker exhibit case. Columbus, Ohio native Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker was a race car driver who entered World War I as a staff driver and emerged as the leading U.S. ace with 26 confirmed victories over the enemy. At his insistence, he was permitted to join a flight unit, first being assigned as a student at the Aviation Training School at Tours,......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Next, move so that you are standing in front of the Kettering “Bug.” Ohioan Charles Kettering was an inventor, engineer, businessman and the holder of more than 180 patents. In addition to the spark plug and the electric cash register, one of Kettering’s many innovations was the Kettering Aerial Torpedo, like this full-size replica built by museum personnel. Developed in 1917 and......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Stand near the SPAD XIII, the biplane with the red nose and the famous “Hat in the Ring” insignia. This aircraft is painted to represent the one flown by America’s “Ace of Aces” Eddie Rickenbacker, who was from Columbus, Ohio. Rickenbacker is credited with shooting down more German airplanes during World War I than any other American pilot. You’ll learn more about Rickenbacker......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Go to your left to the large McCook Field Wind Tunnel. McCook Field, near Dayton, was an airfield and aviation experimentation station used from 1917 until the new Wright Field opened in 1927. This wind tunnel was designed and built at McCook Field in 1918 and was used for calibrating airspeed instruments and testing airfoils. The airfoils to be evaluated were placed in the choke-throat......
Audio by NMUSAF PA | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force | 12.05.2013
Next, move to the nose of the Nieuport 28. This is the biplane with the blue and white striped nose. Many American aces flew the Nieuport 28 during World War I, including Columbus natives Eddie Rickenbacker and Fred Norton. Norton, who flew with the 27th Aero Squadron during the Chateau-Thierry Campaign, was severely wounded by ground fire while strafing a column of German troops. He was......
