Air Force's National Museum Launches Official Name Change

DAYTON, Ohio - The ceremony to publicly launch the re-designation of the U.S. Air Force Museum to the National Museum of the United States Air Force took place on Thursday, 14 October at 10 a.m. at the museum.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper delivered the keynote address. Gen. Gregory S. Martin, commander of Air Force Materiel Command; and Maj. Gen. (Ret) Charles D. Metcalf, director of the museum, also delivered remarks.

The new name underscores the museum's status as the official trustee of the Air Force story, confirms the museum's national character and world-class collection, and signals its rapidly growing facilities and global visibility.

The museum's new name parallels that of other similar peer institutions such as the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the planned National Museum of the United States Army.

The museum is the world's largest and oldest military aviation museum. In 2003, nearly 1.35 million people visited the museum and the website received close to 70 million hits.

Aircraft of the Week

Grumman OA-12 'Duck'

The OA-12 "Duck" is the U.S. Air Force version of the Navy J2F-6 amphibian. It was derived from the XJF-1, a Grumman amphibian that flew for the first time in May 1933. Later, Grumman built a variety of JF- and J2F- series aircraft that were used primarily by the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, before and during World War II. After the war, air-sea rescue duties assigned to the USAF's Air Rescue Service required special aircraft for overwater missions. So in 1948, the USAF acquired eight surplaus Navy J2F-6s for air-sea rescue work. Five were designated OA-12s and sent to Alaska for duty with the 10th Air Rescue Squadron (the other three disappeared from the records and apparently went to an allied country under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program). (more...)