The Memphis Belle At The National Museum Of The Air Force

My husband has always been fascinated with World War 2. One of his favorite aircraft of the era is the Memphis Belle. When he heard the National Air Force Of The Museum was restoring the Memphis Belle, he knew he wanted to see it. I enjoy history as well, so I didn't mind, and the kids were excited because, well, aircraft. ("I see a lot of these in my video games!" my son told us.)


The museum is located in Dayton, Ohio near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It is open every day of the week from 9-5. It is free, but donations are appreciated.

The museum is separated into different areas: the Early Years, World War 2, Korea, Southwest Asia, Cold War, Missile, Space, Presidential...plus many more.

It is neat how the airplanes are set up.

I thought my husband would want to race right for the Memphis Belle but no, he said he wanted to do things in order. So we started off with the Early Years.

There are spots where kids can learn more about the aircraft.

We moved to the World War 2 area:

And then it happened. We spotted the Memphis Belle. I gripped my husband's arm. "Are you super excited? Do you want to cry?"

"No," he answered.

"But you've been wanting to see this for MONTHS. And here it is. Right in front of you in all its glory. You aren't even going to tear up?"

"No."


He was impressed though. Everyone involved did a fantastic job.

We probably spent about 20 minutes staring and taking in the Memphis Belle. For those who don't know, the Memphis Belle flew in every combat zone during WW2. It's a bomber plane and completed 25 missions, and if you want to learn more, talk to my husband. The crew were and are heroes.


We eventually moved on.

This might have been in the Vietnam section. I fully admit I do not know my aircraft.

If you get hungry, there are places to eat. It's nothing fancy, but tasty enough. I was in desperate need of Diet Coke and the cafe had some. I found Diet Coke in the Valkyrie Cafe. This is the bigger of the food options. The other is just the Refueling Cafe, and it doesn't have as much, plus no Diet Coke.

(We went there first and I panicked when I didn't see the Diet Coke. They only had Pepsi. "What's going on? Where's the Diet Coke, Tom? Where's the Diet Coke?" I nearly grabbed the collar of his shirt. He told me to relax, we moved to the Valkyrie Cafe and they had fountain Diet Coke. Phew.)

Naturally my husband had to get the Memphis Belle cup:

We ate and continued on:

I was feeling much happier after Diet Coke:

Another cool thing about the museum is that you can sit in some of the aircraft and go through them:

Also, if you get tired, there are plenty of chairs to sit and rest. This is the perfect place to relax when your husband looks at the same airplane for over ten minutes or gets into a conversation with another dude about aircraft.

We ventured into the space area and found a flying saucer:

It was pretty cool to see Apollo 15 too. ("Remember the story about Apollo 13?" Natalie asked and shook her head. "Tom Hanks did a great job.")

Plus they have President Kennedy's Air Force One:

Be sure to walk around outside and see the memorials. Tom really liked this one made for Security Forces:

I highly recommend going here. It's worth it to travel to if you don't live nearby. We arrived at 9 and left at 2. There's so much to see and do!

Oh, and when you enter the museum, you'll get your photo taken. I'm sure no one is surprised that we picked the Memphis Belle background. (There are others.)

So if you're looking for a fun and free summer activity, I highly recommend the National Museum of the Air Force.

Have you ever been?