City: Cincinnati, OH

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (937) 255-3284

Description: Pigs are about the only thing you won’t find flying around here. This is the largest aviation museum in the world, holding more than 200 aircraft, missiles, and other sorts of identified flying objects. Unidentified flying objects and their inhabitants are kept in the deep freeze elsewhere on the base, according to legend.But, seriously, you’ll find plenty of real-life aircraft to keep you busy all day. Displays include early models built by the Wright brothers and such famous World War I craft as the Sopwith Camel along with B-29 Superfortresses from World War II, including the plane that dropped an A-bomb on Nagasaki in 1945. Other aircraft of special interest include a German V-2 rocket that fell short of Britain and into the North Sea, a German Junker, and presidential airplanes including the Air Force One that took JFK on his fateful trip to Dallas. Video loops help illustrate several of the displays. An auditorium shows three films about flying. The museum has a good mix of hands-on and hands-off exhibits. Best of all, it’s free.The IMAX theater gives you the experience of an actual space flight through its six-story screen. Admission is $6.00, $5.50 for seniors age 60 and older, $4.50 for students, and $4.50 for kids age 3 and up.This place is big. Be prepared to do some walking, and bring a stroller for the little ones. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.