Mike and I were on Dover Air Force Base today to get id’s. Mike got an updated military id while I received a spouse id. I had not realized it was something I needed as I was not with Mike when he was active duty. It was a little intimidating driving up to the main gate and then maneuvering around the base. Mike knew for the most part where we were going as he finished his career at Dover working on the C5-A’s engines after working for many years on the B-52’s jet engines while stationed in California. I drove like a tourist on base gawking and looking at all the buildings and straining to see if I could see air craft which much to my surprise were located at the far end of the runway and hard to see. Dover Air Force Base is home to a fleet of C5 cargo aircraft which are enormous lumbering planes but carry a lot of whatever needs moving. Dover is also home to the mortuary where deceased and killed in action service members from abroad come to prior to heading to their home state for burial. I found it sobering when driving past the mortuary complex. Though the building and complex itself was understated and was labeled like all the other buildings. 

After Mike and I finished what we needed to I asked it we could visit the museum on base which turns out is actually just off base. When you enter the museum you walk through a long hallway filled with photos and stories on Medal of Honor recipients through history. The hallway emptied out into a hangar where there were about ten aircraft from a glider used during World War Two to a B-17 and everything in between. I enjoyed looking at photos and paintings of the nose art that used to be painted on planes. I cannot imagine sitting in the turrets located all over the B-17. After we explored inside the hangar we went outside to view the many aircraft on display. There were around twenty five planes outside. Some you could go inside and others you needed a tour guide with you which we did not have. While walking around we could observe an AWACS plane practicing touch and go’s. 

All photos were taken with my phone as I had not planned on going to the museum when we set out this morning. I used a black and white filter on the first photo and I loved the side view mirror outside the cockpit. I was intrigued by the vastness of the collection both propeller planes and jets. I especially liked the Linus painting. I enjoyed our day and we finished our tour of the museum visiting their 9/11 Memorial which had two pieces of steel from the 81st floor of one of the towers as well as piece of the pentagon and a rock from where flight 93 went down. 

I found photographing the planes a challenge.