Day 5 --- Spring Break Road Trip '09

Well, today we find ourselves in Fairborn, Ohio, right outside of Dayton.....at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. We spent the day in the National Air Force Museum--located in those 3-- BIG, HUGE, I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN TO YOU THE ENORMOUS SIZE.....those 3 Hangars. Let me just say for the record right here and now....I had NO idea we (as in the USAF) had so many planes. There are all varieties beginning with the Wright Brothers, through WW I and WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Present Day War in Iraq.....etc. It's a lot folks.

• And Temple, for the most part, can name them all. For instance.....if the kids had only me to describe planes it would sound a lot like this : "That's a big one", "There's a small one", "Look, that one has a cool picture painted on it's front", "I believe that one is a jet", "I think that one drops bombs", you get the idea. I don't speak it, but apparently the Air Force has a whole LETTER -- NUMBER language that does very well..... B-52, F-16, C-5, blah blah blah.

It was A LOT of walking.....did I mention the hangars are HUMONGOUS????.....and there are a LOT of planes. A lot.

• Here the kids are sitting in the cockpit of a F-16

• F-16 the Falcon......an awesome fighter jet

• P-40 the Kittyhawk----made famous by the "Flying Tigers".

• And one of our very own personal favorites (one of the few I can actually recognize and name)---the P-38 Lightning. This is what "Dandy", Temple Bowling III, my Temple's grandfather, flew in WW II. He was a very accomplished pilot. He served in Korea and Vietnam also. He was an even greater man.

• This bench outside the museum had te Pilot Training Class 52-A of which Dandy was an instructor.

• B-17 -- Flying Fortress -- the bomber workhorse of WW II

• An area I found great interest in was the POW exhibit. I don't know why, but this message system and subsequent message they showed and had a button you could push to hear it being tapped out.....well, it stuck with me.

• F-4 Phantom

• F-15 Eagle

• F-22 Raptor

Here's a colorful one. This was about the only one Tyner Beth was interested in......she was walking alongside me near the end of our excursion in Hangar 1 and said, "Momma, the Airplane Museum is for boys.".......... :) Bless her heart, she was a real trooper.

• A-10 Warthog

• After leaving the 3 Hangars, we drove on another area of Base......where they house the Presidential Planes---the old AIR FORCE ONES.

• Now, that's pretty cool geting to walk on the plane of former Presidents. Of course my favorite was getting to see President Kennedy's plane. This AIR FORCE ONE, pictured below, is the very plane that flew him to Dallas on that fateful day.....and a few hours later, flew him back in a casket. You can read the plaque picture below that I took. It explains that the crew didn't want to put Pres. Kennedy in the cargo hold....just didn't seem right, I suppose. So, they cut a wall area to be able to put him inside the plane....with Jackie O' sitting alongside.

• Today's day on the road trip was Rivers' birthday day. St. Patty's Day. So, Pappy let him choose where to eat......Texas Roadhouse......and he ordered him a big ol' 12 ounce ribeye. And finished it off......after he got over being nervous about having to "saddle - up" and be announced for the crowd to give a great big birthday YEE-HAW!!!

What about this little Irish cutie???? Don't you just want to kiss her? I think she's part of my pot of gold!!!

PHOTO FROM THE KID CAM:

• Just one for today. Sure, the boys took about a gazillion photos of planes. But Tyner Beth took this one of me....see, I am on the trip afterall.