National Museum of the United States Air Force

The Hangar Oct 2, 2026

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Rode Its Own Shockwave, and the Dayton Hangar That Holds the Only Airframe Left After the Mojave Took the Other One

North American's XB-70 Valkyrie flew at Mach 3 riding its own shockwave, was cancelled before combat, and only one of two airframes survives today.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 29, 2026

The Memphis Belle, the Boeing B-17 That Led America's First Twenty-Five, and the Fourteen-Year Restoration That Finally Gave Her the Home She Deserved

The Memphis Belle completed Europe's first publicly recognized 25-mission bomber tour in May 1943; a 14-year restoration at Wright-Patterson unveiled her in 2018.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 17, 2026

Bockscar, the B-Twenty-Nine at Dayton, the Fuel Pump That Quit Before Takeoff, and the Mission to Nagasaki That History Almost Forgot

Bockscar dropped the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, with a broken fuel pump, a 45-minute detour, and fuel remaining for exactly one final bomb run.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 15, 2026

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the Mach-Three Bomber That McNamara Cancelled, and the One Survivor Standing in the Dayton Museum That Still Stops People Cold

The XB-70 Valkyrie - America's only Mach-3 strategic bomber - was cancelled by McNamara, lost one airframe in a midair collision, and survives today in Dayton.

Taildragger

The Hangar Sep 11, 2026

The North American XB Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Was Obsolete Before It Flew, and the One Airframe Dayton Keeps for the Rest of Us

The XB-70 Valkyrie was America's Mach 3 nuclear bomber - a Cold War engineering triumph made strategically obsolete before its first prototype ever flew.

Taildragger

The Hangar Aug 31, 2026

The Memphis Belle, the First B-17 Crew to Complete Twenty-Five Missions Over Europe, and the Thirty-Five Year Restoration That Finally Brought Her Home to Dayton

The Memphis Belle - the first B-17 crew to complete 25 combat missions over occupied Europe - is now fully restored and on permanent display in Dayton, Ohio.

Taildragger

The Hangar Aug 27, 2026

Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Sat Outside in Memphis for Thirty Years, and the Restoration That Brought Her Back Before She Was Lost Forever

The Memphis Belle completed 25 combat missions in 1943, spent decades deteriorating outdoors in Memphis, and was saved by a landmark restoration unveiled May 17, 2018.

Taildragger

The Hangar Jul 5, 2026

The Memphis Belle Restoration: Four Decades of Rain and the Team That Brought Her Home

The Memphis Belle B-17 survived 25 combat missions over Europe, then 40 years of outdoor neglect, before a 12-year restoration returned her to museum condition in 2018.

Taildragger