Max Bertola's Photo Essays - Air Force Museum, Ogden, Utah |
|
|
|
Max Bertola's Photo Essays
Your surrounded, bombers missiles and planes. Perhaps the second largest collection of military weapons in the world. Your at northern Utah's largest tourist attraction - the Air Force Museum at Hill Air Force Base just outside of Ogden, Utah.
|
Staffing and great interpretation |
||
| Good interpretive signs and a helpful staff are the greatest assets of the Air Force Museum at Hill Air Force Base, just outside of Ogden. Almost every plane, helicopter, jet, missile and rocket has an identification sign, explaining the name and what the particular weapons system was used for in real battle. John McCleary (in suit) and a local volunteer man the front desk at museum. | ||
F-102A Delta Dagger |
||
| This aircraft is located in front of the main building. A nice pathway leads you to these outdoor exhibits. The maximum speed of the F-102A is 825 miles per hour at 36,000 feet. | ||
F-111E Aardvark |
||
| This aircraft looks just like the name implies. It is another of the many fine outdoor exhibits at the Air Force Museum. | ||
Minuteman and Bomarc Missiles |
||
| The Minuteman and Bomarc missiles are part of the extensive exhibits in the outside exhibits at the museum. The Minuteman is a Ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead and travelling at 15,000 miles per hour. The Bomarc is surface launched missile designed to destroy enemy aircraft. | ||
B-29A Flying Fortress |
||
| Designed in 1940, the Flying Fortress was assigned to the Pacific arena because it was so well suited for long overwater flights required to attack the Japanese homeland. | ||
C-124 Globemaster II |
||
| 200 passengers or 68,500 pounds of cargo could be hauled in the Globemaster. It has a maximum speed of 230 mph at 10,000 feet. | ||
SR 71 |
||
| Travelling at mach 3+ (over 2,000 mph or 33 miles per minute) and at an altitude of 80,000 feet (15 miles up), the SR-71 is a secretive kind of aircraft. | ||
Inside the Hangar |
||
| The gallery inside the Hangar represents the finest preserved aircrafts. There is a story to every aircraft and weapons system. | ||
|
"You can go to canyons or parks but you cannot go too many places and get around aircraft,"
says John McCleary, head of the Air Force Museum at Hill Air Force Base, just south of Ogden,
Utah. More than 150,000 people visit the museum annually, making it northern Utah's top tourist attraction. And with more than 55 aircraft and seven missiles the museum is the number two Air Force Museum in the world, second only to the Wright Patterson Museum. According to McCleary, the type of aircraft and the displays make the difference. Through the interpretation the museum tells a story of how the airplane or missile served the country. And I have been to a lot of museums and the Air Force Museum is by far the best interpreted museum I have seen. The staff is the other factor that makes a difference. Nearly 100 volunteers serve the museum answering questions about the exhibits. And these are not your typical guides, without exception, these volunteers once served on the aircraft they now talk about. Expect to take an hour and a half, roaming through the exhibits. If you really like aircraft, then plan on a little more time. The museum is closed on Mondays and is located on the west side of Hill Air Force base north of Salt Lake City about 20 minutes up Interstate 15.
|
|
Comments and suggestions: max@bertola.org Max Bertola's Photo Essays web site © Copyright 1996, Max Bertola. All rights reserved. |