Day 56
I remember exactly when and where I was when I decided that I needed to visit the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
It was in August of 1989, in Beach Haven, N.J. on Long Beach Island.
I met Richard Dahlstedt in a curious fashion.
His wife, Marden, was the author of Shadow of the Lighthouse, one of Lorelyn’s favorite books. She was presently in 5th grade and was devouring books that summer. We learned that Marden had written another book, The Terrible Wave, (about the Johnstown Flood) but it was not available. This was before the “buy anything on the Internet” time. I had read on the dustjacket, that Marden, and her husband Richard, had an antique shop on the Island and we happened to be just across the bay at my Grandmother’s shore house. I called the shop and Richard answered the phone. He explained that Marden had passed away, but he had several copies of the book and would be happy to get one to us. I told him where we were and that we would be right over.
Richard had the book ready for Lorelyn when we entered The Attic, which was the name of their antique shop. Behind the desk, hanging on the wall, there was a photo of a B-24 Liberator from WWII. Richard and I got involved in a conversation about it and that was when I learned that Richard was the commander of that bomber in North Africa during the war.
Richard relayed to me an interesting story.
He picked up his favorite pipe and indicated a carved symbol on the front of it. It was kind of a skull and crossbones likeness, but not quite that. Showing me the pipe and then looking closer at the photo, he showed me that the pipe had the same markings as the B-24.
“I heard that my plane was eventually taken to the Air Force Museum in Dayton,” he started. Stopping for a moment he picked up his pipe again and said, “It was years before I got the chance to go and visit her, but when I did, I had my pipe with me, but then, I always had my pipe with me and didn’t give it a second thought, Until……” He looked up at me and smiled. Continuing, he said, “Until….. the guy at the Museum saw me and recognized the carving on my pipe. All he said to me was, “We’ve been waiting for you to come.”
That was when I decided that someday I would get to Dayton and visit the Air Force Museum. Well, that someday turned into yesterday. It only took me thirty-three years to get there but it was worth the wait!
In order to do this Museum justice, one would need to spend about three days here so that you could read every bit of information that was presented with the various displays. I only had about three hours, so I rambled about, going from one Aviation Era to another, picking out my favorites and spending my time with them.
As you may imagine, their collection is incredible. I’m sure that it rivals the Smithsonian’s, but we are not going to debate who’s is better, we are just going to be thankful that once again, someone decided that something was worthwhile saving, and did just that!
The Museum is vast. Besides the main building, there are four additional “hangers” where the aircraft are displayed. These “hangers” were specifically built here for this purpose and are large enough to enclose some mighty aircraft. The largest are a B-52, a B-36, a B-29, and a Boeing 707 that was once an Air Force One plane.
I took a few photos to represent what is displayed here and to give you a sense of not only how large it is, but also to show you how well everything is portrayed.
Sacrifice and Service are prominent themes here, as they should be.
It is well worth a visit, no matter how much time you have.