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"This is great and is incredibly educational," Baker said. He said the displays bring back memories for him, but hopes they will give something to younger generations as well. He was in training at Hickam Field, Hawaii, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. George Baker served in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific from 1940 to 1946. "That was the first time an army of that size surrendered to air power alone," Sanders said.
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Under the barrage of artillery the P-47 threw down, it did not take long for the Germans to surrender, he said. "About 20,000 soldiers from the German army were on foot coming from Italy back to Germany," he said. Sanders said he remembers a mission he flew in the P-47 near the Loire River in southern France. "The P-47 was the most fantastic aircraft the Air Force ever had," he said. He took them to see the P-47D Thunderbolt. Sanders, now 86 and in a wheelchair, was accompanied by his son and granddaughter. "It's going to take you a week to really go through the place." He said he was amazed at the size of the center. He has 8,000 career flying hours, with more than 1,000 in the P-47. Sanders joined the Army Air Corps in 1941 and flew 116 missions over Europe. Some World War II aviation veterans in attendance were amazed at the array of aircraft on display and said they enjoyed the opportunity to revisit the aircraft they had flown nearly 60 years before. Nearly 80 percent of the air and space museum's aircraft will be put on display at the center. Visitors can view the collection from the floor or any of several catwalks that crisscross the hangar.Įventually, the center will house 200 aircraft, 135 space artifacts and thousands of smaller aviation-related items. Aircraft are displayed at floor level and suspended from the ceiling at various heights. The aviation hangar at the heart of the center is nearly 10 stories tall and the length of three football fields. Among the 82 aircraft shown were the B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay,” the space shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71 Blackbird, a test model of the Joint Strike Fighter and the Concorde. "They made America an air power - the most innovative and respected in the world today."Įxamples of that air power, both old and new, were on display. "For a century, America's aviation veterans have bravely explored and expanded the limits of air power," Myers said. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen. The center is located in Chantilly Va., less than 30 miles from the museum's flagship building in Washington. 9, at the National Air and Space Museum's new Steven F. Military aviators from conflicts as far back as World War II were invited to the "Salute to Military Aviation Veterans" Dec. WASHINGTON - One of the most popular museums of the Smithsonian Institution here celebrated its expansion with a day honoring military aviation veterans.