A must visit attraction near Destin/Fort Walton Beach Florida: Air Force Armament Museum

 

Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin Air Force Base, FL

I had always been a fan of airplanes as a child.  Some of my favorite memories of childhood was when my family visited an outdoors exhibit of military equipment including tanks, trucks, and most of all, and aircraft in Seoul, South Korea.

I had been fascinated by the sheer size of these airplanes, at times impossible to fathom how these heavy steel beasts can take off into the sky and travel at speeds exceeding the speed of sound!  As a young kid, I even dreamed of one day becoming a pilot myself, like so many kids do at that age.

Seeing military aircraft is still a treat even as an adult.  About 10 years ago, I had a chance to visit the USS Intrepid, docked in New York City Harbor.  There, I got to see some cool planes plus the workings of an aircraft carrier.  It got me so excited to see that stuff then.

Hey, there’s no age restriction for stuff that interests you.  You can enjoy stuff and be excited about stuff at any age.  Like Robbie of Adventure Archives (one of my favorite YouTube channels) like to say, “Interested people are interesting.”

So it was awesome that I got to visit another museum dedicated to military aircraft at the Air Force Armament Museum at the Eglin Air Force Base near Destin, which was where we were staying for 2 nights.  After checking out of our hotel at Destin on January 1st, we knew we had some time to kill, so we decided to stop by the museum on our way over to our next destination, Gulf Shores, Alabama.

In the words of Air Force Armament Museum’s website, “…is the only museum in the world dedicated to the collection, preservation, and exhibition of artifacts and memorabilia associated with Air Force Armament and its platform of delivery.”  With over 29 different aircrafts on display from World War 2 to the present, it is a must visit destination when visiting the Florida Panhandle.  

We left our hotel, SummerPlace Inn in Destin around 10:30 a.m., heading for Air Force Armament Museum.  At distance of around 16 miles, the trip would take about 35 minutes.  

We took the now familiar US-98/Emerald Coast Pkwy heading west, then turned north via FL-85 north.  We arrived at the museum after taking the exit for Eglin Air Force Base.  

The base was quiet on the first day of the year, but as we pulled into the parking lot at the museum, we noticed fellow travelers.  We’re always surprised to see tourists (like us) at even the most remote locations during our travels.  It’s definitely reassuring to see people…That feeling of belonging, is a good thing.

We got out to see the various aircraft displayed throughout the outdoor space.  Wow, awesome!



The famous “Blackbird”!

The futuristic SR-71A Blackbird was one of those aircraft that really blew my mind when I first laid my eyes on it.  It looked so sleek, fast just sitting still, and mean-looking decked out in all black.  

It was, when it came out in the 1960’s, a thing of futuristic beauty and design.  I was so happy I got real close to it at the Air Force Armament Museum!

As I walked around, we got acquainted with more aircraft.  There were the classics: F-4, and A-10, as well as the F-15, and the venerable F-16, currently being used in the Russian-Ukrainian War.







I felt like a kid in a candy store, or a hungry person waiting to attack the buffet!  It was so exciting to see so many of the aircraft I admired growing up.  It truly made me proud to be living in the United States, the acknowledged world leader in technology, especially military technology.

I always had respect for all the innovators who worked on these ground breaking technologies and innovations that went into these fabulous airplanes.  Like I always like to say, trust Americans to come up with new innovations that will change the world.  

No one else can do this better the last 100+ years or so.  Just look at all the impressive innovations that Americans have come up with that changed the world: electricity, assembly lines for building cars cheaper, airplanes, nuclear fusion, internet, personal computers, tablets like iPads, smartphones like iPhones, Facebook, YouTube, Google, Nike, still functioning and still standing democracy, AI (artificial intelligence), and on and on and on…

Whenever I visit these type of places full of innovation, I get goosebumps reading about and sometimes touching these incredible achievements.  I just hope Americans can come up with more innovations during my lifetime so I can enjoy some of them…

Oh, sorry.  Back to the museum…

The outdoor exhibit isn’t huge, and we were able to walk around to see all the aircraft, both the front of the museum and the back, within about 30 minutes.  It’s probably the size of two football fields or two baseball fields.  Manageable and walkable size for most people.

Along the way, we encountered other aircrafts like these below:






Some of the striking displays were of the missiles themselves.  One of them looked to be a cruise missile with its shark-like design that glides in the air, guided by its internal navigation system.  Cool.


We walked back around to the museum’s main entrance but realized the museum was closed due to New Year’s Day holiday.  Bummer!  We still got to see a cool bomb at the entrance to the building.


At the entrance to the museum 

We took a bench at the museum’s entrance to eat our lunch (leftover Panera Bread yet again) under the shade of the entrance’s canopy.  The sun was hot on New Year’s Day in Florida, but under the shade, it was 10 degrees cooler.  Not a bad way to spend a New Year’s Day, in the heart of the Florida’s Panhandle, chomping on a delicious sandwich under the shade at the Air Force Armament Museum…

In conclusion:

As we travel throughout the country, we notice the abundance of Air Force bases like the Eglin Air Force Base.  We always wondered why there are so many of them, but we realized United States being the “Policeman of the World”, has lot to do with it.

The Air Force needs to be able to intervene in conflicts throughout the world, and with the Russian threat no longer a possibility but a reality, it makes perfect sense.  For us, it’s always a treat to see cool airplanes at some of these Air Force bases around the country.  

It’s making even a grown up like myself, giddy with excitement to see them, to touch them, and have my imagination run wild with the thought of flying them, even if I’m not qualified to do so.  Well, there goes my Top Gun fantasies, but we can all dream, right?

Thank you for reading and keep up with us on our continuing adventures through the American South!


Jake

Wandering Money Pig 



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