Travel:

Maxwell Air Force Base
Open Air Plane Display
Montgomery, AL (USA)

Introduction: Wright Flyer

article and photos by Russ Lockwood


On the walk back from lunch at the Officer's Club, I took a detour of sorts to the Maxwell Air Force Base Open Air Plane Display.

I'm not sure that's exactly what the base visitor's center would label it, but that's what I'm calling it. It is open to the elements, ehnce the "Open Air" part, and it is an airplane display, hence the "Plane Display." I would have called it a "Jet Display," but there is a B-25 as well as a statue of the Wright Brothers' plane, both are obviously not jets.

In any case, although you come to other planes first, I elected to start with the Wright Brothers' plane. Contrary to the wickerwork look of the wings, it is composed primarily of steel. Suspended above the brickwork by a pair of steel beams, you can walk under and around the plane, staring face to face so to speak with Orville (or was it Wilbur who won the coin toss? What a great trivia question to pull on cadets).

More Maxwell Air Force Base


Back to List of Historic Sites
Back to Travel Master List
Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines
© Copyright 2002 by Coalition Web, Inc.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com