Field Trip to the National Museum of the United States Air Force

Saturday, April 15, 2017
Last week, I got the opportunity to take my second-graders to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.  I was a little worried that it wouldn't be a great trip because there wasn't the same excitement surrounding the trip that was there before we went to the Columbus Zoo.  Fortunately, the kids LOVED it!

Let me start by saying that if you ever get the opportunity to go, either by yourself or as a class, take it!  It is completely free to get in and the place is enormous- it has four hangars of exhibits ranging from the first flight to today.  The exhibits the kids liked the best were the Word War II Gallery, the Cold War Gallery, the Missile Gallery, and the Presidential Gallery, which has a number of airplanes you can actually walk through to see what they look like on the inside (super cool!).  The place is loaded with interesting facts and history.  



One thing the kids found really exciting was that you can download an app called Cockpit360 to take a look inside the airplanes that are right in front of them.  I definitely recommend this field  trip during the spring, summer, or fall, as there is no place to have lunch inside (they don't allow food or drinks in the building), but there is a large picnic area outside
where we were able to grab lunch off of the buses we took and have a seat for a little while to give the kids a much-needed break (did I mention this place is huge?!).  As an added bonus for me, I got to see my favorite plane- the Lockheed F-117a Nighthawk.


When we got back to school, the kids were very tired from all of the walking so I was happy to give them some time to themselves.  Walking around, I heard so many great comments about how much they loved the trip and about what they got to see.  This field trip was a complete success, and I recommend it to anyone in the Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky area, or to anyone who loves planes or the Air Force!

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