USA/NE: Strategic Air Command Museum
An absolute must-see attraction in Nebraska is located half way between Lincoln and Omaha – the Strategic Air Command Museum. The massive museum with three hangars is jam-packed with aircraft, bombers, fighter-jets, missiles, bombs of all shapes and sizes, and even some space craft. The nearby airbase at Offut is the actual US Strategic Air Command since 1948. Among the spectacualr aircraft on display here are Lockhee U-2 “Dragon Lady” high-altitude spy plane, Boeing B-17 and B-52 “Flying Fortress” bombers, Boeing B-47 Stratojet, COnvair B-58 “Hustler” first-in-the-world supersonic bomber, Convair F-102 “Delta Dagger” interceptor (whose only mission was to intercept Soviet TU-95 bombers), several WWII-era bombers and fighters, helicopters, and much more. There are also cruise missiles, like air-launched AGM-86 or the AGM-28 Ground Dog. Want more? Outside display has several ICBM rockets like the SLV-1 Blue Scout, SM-65D Atlas, or PGM-17 Thor. On a special display is the Lockheed SR-75 “Blackbird” – the long range high-altitude Mach 3+ stealth bomber – despite being originally built in 1964 and now retired, still looking like the craft from X-Men. Finally, there is some NASA stuff here as well, like the Apollo Command Module or the supercool experimental NASA X-38 re-entry vehicle for the International Space Station.
