Strategic Air Command And Aerospace Museum

The Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum is a museum focusing on aircraft and nuclear missiles of the United States Air Force during the Cold War. It is located near Ashland, Nebraska, along Interstate 80 southwest of Omaha. The objective of the museum is to preserve and display historic aircraft, missiles, and space vehicles, and provide educational resources.Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum
official website

History

Establishment

Offutt Air Force Base, south of Omaha and adjacent to Bellevue, Nebraska, became the headquarters of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command in 1948, and continues as the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command. The museum, then located at Offutt, began with its first airplane in 1959 as the Strategic Aerospace Museum. General Curtis LeMay's vision of a museum that preserved historic aircraft had become a reality. Over the following years, the outdoor museum's name changed to the Strategic Air Command Museum or SAC Museum. Ownership of the museum transferred from the Air Force to the state of Nebraska in 1970.

Move

However, by 1995, the United States Air Force Museum determined that the aircraft had deteriorated and was considering moving them to other locations. Three individuals, Robert Daugherty, Walter Scott Jr. and Lee Seemann, contributed $4 million each as part of a capital campaign for a new museum. Other contributions eventually raised the total to $32 million.

On 16 May 1998, the museum moved indoors to a location more accessible to the public, between Omaha and Lincoln, that allowed the aircraft to be protected from the elements to which they had previously been exposed. As part of the moving process, two aircraft (a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II and C-133 Cargomaster) were relocated to the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

The new museum building is a $29.5 million, structure that features a glass atrium, two large aircraft display hangars, a traveling exhibit area, a children's interactive gallery, a 200-seat theater, a museum store, an aircraft restoration gallery, and a snack bar. The glass atrium is constructed of 525 glass panels that encase a pedestal-mounted Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The two aircraft display hangars protect the aircraft collection and exhibits from harsh outdoor elements. The museum participates in an exhibit exchange program with other national museums and displays them in the traveling exhibit area. Three large missiles are displayed vertically outdoors in front of the museum.

In 2001, museum officially became the Strategic Air & Space Museum as part of an increased focus on space, but the name change was unpopular with veterans. On 25 June 2015, the museum announced another name change to the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum.

Collection

Aircraft

* Avro Vulcan B.2 ''XM573''
* Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress ''44-83559''
* Boeing B-47E Stratojet ''52-1412''
* Boeing EC-135C ''63-8049''
* Boeing KC-97G Stratofreighter ''53-0198''
* Boeing RB-52B Stratofortress ''52-8711''
* Boeing TB-29 Superfortress ''44-84076''
* Convair B-36J ''52-2217''
* Convair B-58A Hustler ''61-2059''
* Convair F-102A Delta Dagger ''54-1405''
* Convair T-29A ''50-0190''
* Douglas A-26B Invader ''44-34665''
* Douglas C-47A Skytrain ''43-48098''
* Douglas C-54D Skymaster ''42-72724''
* Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar ''51-8024L''
* General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle
* General Dynamics FB-111A Aardvark ''68-0267''
* Grumman HU-16B Albatross ''51-0006''
* Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk ''85-0831''
* Lockheed T-33A ''58-0548''
* Lockheed U-2C ''56-6701''
* Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ''61-7964''
* Martin B-57E Canberra ''55-4244''
* McDonnell XF-85 Goblin ''46-0524''
* McDonnell F-101B Voodoo ''59-0462''
* McDonnell RF-4C Phantom II ''65-0903''
* Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13 ''60-2105''
* North American JTB-25N Mitchell ''44-30363''
* North American TB-25N Mitchell ''44-28738'' – Fuselage only
* North American F-86H Sabre ''53-1375''
* North American RB-45C Tornado ''48-0017''
* North American T-39A Sabreliner ''62-4487''
* Piasecki CH-21B ''52-8676''
* Republic F-84F Thunderstreak ''51-1714''
* Republic F-105D Thunderchief ''61-0069'' – Located at I-80W Mile Marker 428.2
* Rockwell B-1A Lancer ''76-0174''
* Sikorsky H-19B Chickasaw ''53-4426''

Rockets and missiles

* Boeing AGM-86B ALCM
* Chance Vought SLV-1 Blue Scout
* Convair SM-65D Atlas
* Douglas PGM-17A Thor
* McDonnell GAM-72 Quail
* Northrop SM-62 Snark
* North American GAM-77 Hound Dog

Spacecraft

* Apollo Block I Command Module ''CSM-009'' – Flown on AS-201
* Apollo Boilerplate Command Module
* NASA X-38
* Project Vela Satellite

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum
Aerospace museums in Nebraska
Museum
Museums established in 1959
Air force museums in the United States
Museums in Cass County, Nebraska
1959 establishments in Nebraska