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34-584: The NBS-1 became the standard frontline bomber of the Air Service in 1920 and remained so until its replacement in 1928–1929 by the Keystone Aircraft series of bombers. The basic MB-2 design was also the standard against which prospective U.S. Army bombers were judged until the production of the Martin B-10 in 1933. The NBS-1 was a wood-and-fabric biplane without staggered wings , employing twin rudders on

68-775: A trans-Atlantic flight for the Orteig Prize . National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum ) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , six miles (9.7 km) northeast of Dayton, Ohio . The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in

102-622: A cost of $ 40.8 million (equivalent to $ 50.8 million in 2023 ). On 28 February 2024, a tornado touched down in the Riverside area in Montgomery County, Ohio. The museum was struck by the tornado causing damage. The base commander, Col. Travis Pond, said that "the damage was isolated to the southern side of Area B. Damaged buildings included the Museum’s Restoration Hangar 4, Gate 22B, and other nearby facilities." The museum

136-555: A crew of 5 it was armed with up to 3 x .30 caliber machine guns and could carry 2,000 lbs (907 kg) of bombs on external racks. A mock-up of the aircraft was inspected by the Air Corps in April and was withdrawn by Keystone after it was determined it could not meet the requirements. The contract was ultimately won by Martin for their Model 139, known as the B-10 Bomber . This was to be

170-715: A laboratory building. In 1932, the collection was named the Army Aeronautical Museum and placed in a WPA building from 1935 until World War II. In 1948, the collection remained private as the Air Force Technical Museum. In 1954, the Air Force Museum became public and was housed in its first permanent facility, Building 89 of the former Patterson Field in Fairborn , which had been an engine overhaul hangar. Many of its aircraft were parked outside and exposed to

204-406: A new stage, theater seats, and a new theater screen to support a broader range of programming—including educational presentations, live broadcasts and expanded documentary choices. It also included a 7.1 surround-sound system, audio devices for the hearing or visually impaired, and personal closed captioning systems. The Air Force Museum Foundation is a private, non-profit organization that supports

238-873: A twin vertical tail. Its two Liberty 12-A engines sat in nacelles on the lower wing, flanking the fuselage. Ordered under the company designation MB-2 in June 1920, the NBS-1 was an improved larger version of the Martin MB-1 bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company in 1918, also known as the GMB or Glenn Martin Bomber. The first flight of the MB-2 took place 3 September 1920. In addition to more powerful engines, larger wings and fuselage, and simplified landing gear,

272-502: Is SAM 26000 , a modified Boeing 707 known as a VC-137C , used regularly by presidents John F. Kennedy , Lyndon B. Johnson , and Richard Nixon . This aircraft took President and Mrs. Kennedy to Dallas on 22 November 1963—the day of the President's assassination. Vice President Johnson was sworn in as president aboard it shortly after the assassination, and the aircraft then carried Kennedy's body back to Washington, D.C. It became

306-400: Is divided into galleries that cover broad historic trends in military aviation. These are further broken down into exhibits that detail specific historical periods and display aircraft in historical context. The museum's collection contains many rare aircraft of historical or technological importance, and various memorabilia and artifacts from the history and development of aviation. Among them

340-674: Is the Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour which orbited the Moon 74 times in 1971, one of four surviving Convair B-36 Peacemakers , the only surviving North American XB-70 Valkyrie and Bockscar —the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki during the last days of World War II . In 2010, the museum launched its 360-degree Virtual Tour , allowing most aircraft and exhibits to be viewed online. In 2018,

374-563: The Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle was placed on permanent public display in the World War II Gallery. The aircraft and its crew became iconic symbols of the heavy bomber crews and support personnel who helped defeat Nazi Germany. The museum has several Presidential aircraft , including those used by Franklin D. Roosevelt , Harry Truman , and Dwight D. Eisenhower . The centerpiece of the presidential aircraft collection

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408-727: The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (test aircraft), the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground attack aircraft and others. The fourth building has four galleries,Presidential, Research and Development, Space and Global Reach, housing more than 70 aircraft, missiles, and space vehicles. Also in the fourth building is an enlarged educational outreach area with three science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Learning Nodes. Previously these collections were housed in an annex facility on Area B of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (the former Wright Field). Because

442-481: The Martin Company, which recommended a further 50 be produced to help its struggling financial condition. However the design was owned by the U.S. Army and subsequent contracts for 110 bombers were awarded by low bid to three other companies: Curtiss Aircraft (50 ordered); L-W-F Engineering Company of College Point, New York (35); and Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of Keyport, New Jersey (25). The engines of

476-655: The NBS-1 also had a unique folding wing system, hinged outside the engine nacelles to fold backward for storage in small hangars. Unlike the MB-1, whose engines were mounted between the wings in a fashion similar to the German Staaken R.VI Riesenflugzeug , the engines of the NBS-1 were fixed to the lower wing over the landing gear. The MB-2 was designed as a night bomber and except for a greater load capacity, had reduced performance characteristics compared to its MB-1 predecessor. The first 20 (five MB-2s and 15 NBS-1s) were ordered from

510-562: The Space Gallery, Presidential Aircraft Gallery, and Global Reach Gallery. With the additional space, more than 70 aircraft that were in storage have been put back on display, such as the XB-70 Valkyrie . The Presidential Aircraft collection is also back on site, having been moved to an outside location for some time. The Air Force Museum Foundation funded the construction entirely with private donations from several different sources at

544-652: The United States. Most of these loaned aircraft duplicate aircraft exhibited by the museum. These other aircraft remain the property of the Department of the Air Force and are typically identified at these locations as being "On Loan from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force." The museum's staff has very high standards for the restoration and quality of care of loaned assets and has, in the past, revoked these loans when it

578-595: The Wrights' 1909 Military Flyer is on display, as well as other Wright brothers artifacts. The building also hosts the National Aviation Hall of Fame , which includes several educational exhibits. The museum has many pieces of U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force clothing and uniforms. At any time, more than 50 World War II-vintage A-2 leather flying jackets are on display, many of which belonged to famous figures in Air Force history. Others are painted to depict

612-467: The airplanes and missions flown by their former owners. The displays include the jacket worn by Brigadier General James Stewart , P-38 ace Major Richard I. Bong 's sheepskin B-3 jacket and boots, an A-2 jacket worn by one of the few USAAF pilots to leave the ground during the attack on Pearl Harbor , and President Ronald Reagan 's USAAF peacoat . The third building houses post- Cold War era planes such as

646-541: The annex was physically located on the base itself, museum guests were required to go through additional security checks before taking museum buses to the hangar. The museum owns other USAF aircraft, including former U.S. Army Air Service , USAAC or USAAF aircraft, that are on loan to other aerospace museums in the United States and overseas, as well as those on permanent static display at various U.S. Air Force installations and tenant activities worldwide, and at Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard installations across

680-587: The backup presidential aircraft after Nixon's first term. It was temporarily removed from display on 5 December 2009, repainted and returned to display on President's Day in 2010. All presidential aircraft are now displayed in the Presidential Gallery, in the fourth building. A large section of the museum is dedicated to pioneers of flight, especially the Wright Brothers , who conducted some of their experiments at nearby Huffman Prairie . A replica of

714-669: The best aircraft in US Navy history. Grumman also designed and built the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) that landed US astronauts on the Moon. In 1932 the Army Air Corps issued a Circular design proposal for an advanced new heavy bomber which Ford, Martin, Boeing, Fokker, Douglas and Keystone submitted designs. The Keystone entry was for an all metal low winged monoplane bomber with retractable landing gear. The bomber would be powered by two Curtiss V-1570 geared Conqueror engines. With

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748-403: The fuselage. They also sank USS  Virginia  (BB-13) and USS  New Jersey  (BB-16) in 1923. An example of the plane was featured in director William Wellman 's 1927 Paramount silent film Wings , disguised as a German Gotha bomber . Footage was shot overhead of the MB-2 as it exited its tent hangar and from the MB-2 during flight. These aerial shots were revolutionary at

782-513: The last 20 bombers of the Curtiss order came equipped with turbosuperchargers manufactured by General Electric , the first such modification made in production quantity. Although enabling the NBS-1 to reach an altitude of over 25,000 ft (7,650 m), the turbosuperchargers were mechanically unreliable and not used operationally. The bomber was equipped defensively with five .30 in (7.62 mm) Lewis guns , mounted in pairs in positions in

816-409: The last design submitted to the military by Keystone. Keystone itself became a manufacturing division of Curtiss-Wright and ceased production in 1932. The former Keystone plant was purchased by Fleetwings in 1934. Lieut. Comdr. Noel Davis and Lieut. Stanton H. Wooster were killed in their Keystone Pathfinder American Legion while conducting a test flight, just days before they were to attempt

850-488: The museum has more than tripled in square footage since 1971, with the addition of a second hangar in 1988, a third in 2003, and a fourth in 2016. In October 2004, the name changed from United States Air Force Museum to National Museum of the United States Air Force. In June 2016, the museum open its 224,000-square-foot (20,800 m ) fourth building that expanded the museum to the current 1,120,000 square feet (104,000 m ) of exhibit space. The fourth building houses

884-545: The nose and upper rear fuselage, and singly in a bottom mount, firing behind and beneath the rear fuselage. The first two Martin MB-2s, Air Service serials 64195 and 64196 , were retained at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, for research and development flight testing, marked with project numbers 'P162' and 'P227' respectively, as was the second NBS-1, 64201 , marked as 'P222'. Four Curtiss NBS-1s were also assigned to McCook. The NBS-1

918-580: The operation was moved to the Bristol, Pennsylvania. Keystone plant. A small band of the top Loening management, design and shop workers (all New Yorkers) did not want to go to Bristol. They instead started their own aircraft company in a small rented shop in Baldwin, NY in Jan. 1930. The principal players were Leroy R. Grumman, Leon "Jake" Swirbul and William Schwendler. Grumman Aircraft went on to stellar heights with some of

952-709: The time, showing the public a perspective of aerial combat from the pilots' point of view. Wings won the first-ever Academy Award for best picture. There are no known surviving original Martin NBS-1 bombers, but in 2002 a full-scale reproduction, constructed from original drawings, went on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio . General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Keystone Aircraft Keystone Aircraft Corporation

986-530: The weather. Through the 1960s, Eugene Kettering, son of Charles F. Kettering , led the project to build a permanent structure to house the collections and became the first chairman of the board of the Air Force Museum Foundation. When he died in 1969, his widow Virginia took over the project. Her "determination, logic and meticulous attention" kept it on track, and the current facility opened in 1971. Not including its annex on Wright Field proper,

1020-639: The world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum is a central component of the National Aviation Heritage Area . The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio. The museum dates to 1923, when the Engineering Division at Dayton's McCook Field first collected technical artifacts for preservation. In 1927, it moved to then- Wright Field in

1054-562: Was an early American airplane manufacturer. Headquartered in Bristol, Pennsylvania , the company was formed as "Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp" in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland , but its name was quickly changed to " Huff-Daland Aero Corp ", then to "Huff-Daland Aero Company". The company made a name for itself in agricultural aircraft, and then in the United States Army Air Corps ' early bomber aircraft. From 1924, James McDonnell

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1088-504: Was deemed that these other museums did not have the resources to properly care for an artifact. This happened in the case of the famous Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress , Memphis Belle . For an additional fee, guests can view aviation- and space-oriented films in a large format theater interspersed primarily with other documentaries. In 2013, the Air Force Museum Theater was upgraded from IMAX to digital 3D. The renovation included

1122-588: Was the chief designer. In 1926, Huff left the company, and it was soon purchased by Hayden, Stone & Co. , who increased capital to $ 1 million (United States) and renamed it Keystone. In 1928, it merged with Loening and was known as Keystone–Loening . In 1929, it was taken over by Curtiss-Wright . Also in 1929, the Keystone–Loening plant on the East River in New York City was closed by Curtiss-Wright and

1156-538: Was the primary bomber used by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell during Project B , the demonstration bombing of naval ships in July 1921. Six NBS-1 bombers, led by Captain Walter Lawson of the 96th Squadron operating out of Langley Field , bombed and sank the captured German battleship SMS  Ostfriesland on 21 July 1921, using specially developed 2,000 lb (907 kg) demolition bombs, externally mounted beneath

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