National Museum of the United States Air Force

The world's largest and oldest military aviation museum, the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base displays over 350 aircraft and missiles across four enormous interconnected hangars. Admission is free, parking is free, and a single visit can easily fill an entire day.

The collection spans from the earliest Wright-era aircraft through World War I and World War II planes, Cold War jets, and modern stealth aircraft. Presidential aircraft including Air Force One planes used by Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Kennedy sit alongside experimental craft that never entered production. The Space Gallery covers rockets and capsules from the dawn of the American space programme. Allow at least four hours; serious aviation enthusiasts will want more.

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Among the museum's most sobering exhibits is Bockscar, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. The aircraft flew 21 combat missions and was nearly lost to history — it sat in a boneyard until the Air Force retrieved it in 1961. You can walk right up to it.