Wright Patt: Museum’s 4th building selected for AF Heritage Award

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force was recently selected by the U.S. Air Force History and Museums Program as the recipient of the 2017 Air Force Heritage Award for the “Fourth Building Gallery Project.”

The award recognizes outstanding achievements by Air Force History and Museums personnel that foster a better understanding and appreciation of the Air Force, its history and accomplishments.

The $40.8 million, 224,000-square-foot fourth building, which was privately financed by the Air Force Museum Foundation, opened in June 2016, and houses four galleries – Presidential, Research and Development, Space and Global Reach, along with three science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Learning Nodes.

Included among the stories found inside the fourth building are the VC-137C Air Force One (SAM 26000), which was used by eight presidents - Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton; the only remaining XB-70 Valkyrie; the C-141C Hanoi Taxi, which airlifted the first American prisoners of war out of North Vietnam in February 1973; the Space Shuttle Exhibit featuring NASA’s first Crew Compartment Trainer; and a massive Titan IVB space launch vehicle that weighs 96 tons.

More information about the fourth building galleries is available at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Expansion.aspx.

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