Air Force Museum Dayton's Best Attraction and Best Museum (we knew that)
The votes are in & the Dayton community has confirmed what we already knew: The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is the Best Attraction and Best Museum! Visit today to see for yourself
Air Force Museum is Best Free Museum (we knew that)
The USA Today 10best.com poll gave the top spot to the National Infantry Museum & Soldier Center in Columbus, Ga., while the Cleveland Museum of Art was given second place. After a valiant campaign by the Air Force Museum Foundation, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force finished in third place.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, which was already the world's largest military aviation museum, just got bigger this past June with a $40.8-million expansion. Exhibits in the museum's new 224,000 sq ft fourth hangar are organized by subject: Space, Global Reach, Research and Development, and Presidential.
Aircraft found in the fourth building include 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; and the massive 96-ton Titan IVB space launch vehicle.
The top 10 winners for Best Free Museum are as follows:
- National Infantry Museum & Soldier Center - Columbus, Ga.
- Cleveland Museum of Art - Cleveland
- National Museum of the U.S. Air Force - Dayton, Ohio
- Saint Louis Art Museum - St. Louis
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art - Bentonville, Ark.
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Kansas City, Mo.
- Frye Art Museum - Seattle
- Minneapolis Institute of Art - Minneapolis
- The Museum at FIT - New York
- American Computer & Robotics Museum - Bozeman, Mont.
According to USA Today, a panel of experts partnered with their 10Best editors to pick the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote.
