Like an alien space ship, the glass architectural bubble abruptly topped one of the hills of rippling corn fields we’d gotten used to in the last 200 miles of Interstate Highway 80 as we crossed the state of Nebraska. Set among the endless knolls that crinkle the eastern end of the state, the Strategic Air Command Museum looked a bit like a fish out of water. Or a UFO in a pioneer history museum.
After we exited the interstate, a line of flag poles led us from the parking lot, past a full-sized stainless steel missile, up steps to the glass atrium, where we entered the bubble. In the military atmosphere, my husband threw back his shoulders and stood taller.
His mind flew back to “good old days,” when he survived a four-year hitch in the U.S. Air Force. Now he was about to see how things had changed.
The SAC Museum, begun as part of Omaha’s Offutt Air Force Base, has morphed into a stand-alone 300,000-square-foot establishment. Said to be the nation’s foremost facility of its kind, the museum attracts visitors who come to see history intertwined with technology in this collection of aircraft, which includes guided missiles and space capsules. Most are war machines, yes, but also marvels of creativity and exhibits of challenges met.
Inside the high, glass atrium, a craft straight from “Star Wars” had us in its sights and seemed to be coming our way — fast. “Is that a Blackbird?” Awe filled my husband’s voice, almost as if he’d just been given carte blanche in a hardware super store. Carefully placed in this gigantic gallery of historic air power, the sleek SR-71 should have been piloted by Luke Skywalker.
Where was Darth Vader? The black oval plane was angled to look as though in flight, and I expected Hans Solo to climb out, but the cockpit was empty. My husband ran his hand lovingly over the black metal skin. “Wow!”
The Strategic Air Command Museum, on the outskirts of Omaha on the road to Lincoln, is a tribute to the men and women of SAC, whose mission for nearly 50 years was to safeguard liberty around the globe. (Read: “Keep tabs on the USSR.”)
This world-class facility tells SAC’s story. The $29.5 million museum opened May 1998 and to date preserves 31 aircraft and 6 missiles. Beyond that introductory 21st Century-looking craft in the atrium entry, the museum’s enormous inner space is stuffed with airplanes of all sizes. Turning left, we looked through large glass windows at planes in the process of restoration. Vintage Korean War, they seemed pedestrian and plodding, not thrilling and soaring like the “Star Wars” job at the front door.
Then we stood at the top of a flight of steps, above one of the space capsules that ferried pioneer American astronauts back to earth. Memory took over…the Soviet’s Sputnik, Alan Shepard, John Glenn. From the beginning, outer space excursions had been world changing.
Meantime, my veteran was looking for a C-47, a Gooney Bird, an old Chevy in this herd of aerodynamic Cadillacs. He had fond (mostly) memories of hours spent puttering in one, both in the air and on the ground, repairing radio troubles.
From a book purchased in the museum’s book shop I learned the C-47 was a very durable and reliable aircraft called on when dependability outranked glamor.
Here in this building as large as three hangars, among acres of aircraft, he fretted; was it possible there was no C-47? The bird had been the workhorse of the entire U.S. Air Force since before WWII and was known by many names, some derogatory. Since it was first built in the early 1930s by the Douglas Aircraft Co. to carry passengers for fledgling commercial airlines, the Douglas DC-3/C-47/Gooney Bird has also been called the plane that changed the world. Throughout World War II and the Korean War it was altered and adapted as needed, the basics staying the same.
We hiked from nose to wing-tip, to other fuselages to tail gun positions. Paused to peer inside the cramped-looking space capsule — not for anyone with even a touch of claustrophobia.
“Look!” A middle-aged man in shorts led a mini-parade of his wife and kids to the small model of an enormous cargo plane. “This is it!” Then he proceeded to detail exactly how the huge craft had been loaded and unloaded. They nodded politely for a time, finally got him to move on.
Our hike through military aviation history dwelt long on World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam. Past planes that were silver, black, brown, camouflaged. Model numbers sounded familiar: B-24, B-17, B-29, P-38. Even a MiG-21 from the Soviet Union.
Suspended from the ceiling of Hangar A, easily overlooked in the busy background of propellers and cigar-shapes, was an innocuous dark plane with long thin wings — the U-2. Looking small and innocent, who could guess the hullabaloo that erupted between Eisenhower and Khrushchev when a pilot named Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane fell into Soviet hands.
A few yards away, the door of an odd-shaped gray box closed behind a gaggle of pre-teens who had tromped up the ramp and ducked into Hangar A’s flight simulator. Creaking pipe-like legs pushed the gray box up, first on one side, then the other. It jiggled and jerked and slid and slewed like a carnival ride. After about five minutes it settled back to start position, the door opened and the group emerged — blase as experienced pilots. Not a green face in the bunch.
Finally: “There it is!” cried my husband. The C-47 at last. Tucked into a dark corner of the big hangar, the little plane looked tiny, lonely — and left behind. So antiquated that it sat with its nose slanting up, not horizontally, like other planes have for decades. But he was happy as a boy with a new toy. Or like an adult Christopher Robin reuniting with Pooh Bear. He patted its sides, walked its length.
“I guess it’s not as big as I thought it was,” he said finally. Or maybe he had grown up. Old Air Force guys fade away eventually, but they sure perk up at the sight of their old aircraft in Nebraska’s Strategic Air Command Museum.
IF YOU GO
THE DETAILS
Strategic Air Command Museum is located at Interstate Highway 80 exit 426 east of Ashland, Neb., between Lincoln and Omaha. Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. except New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission: Adults, $6; children under 12, $3; under 5, free (discounts available for AAA, active/retired military, seniors 65 and over).
The SAC Museum Store offers a variety of books, models, videos and other souvenirs and air history for students and educators.
INFORMATION
Strategic Air Command Museum, PO Box 8343, Omaha, NE 68108-0343; 800-358-5029; fax: 402-944-3160. Information is also available on the Internet at www.sacmuseum.org.
