Air Force Museum to close gallery for five months

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Visitors to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will have to forego its Missile and Space Gallery for five months.

Joe Cogliano

Senior Reporter- Dayton Business Journal

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Visitors to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force will have to forego its Missile and Space Gallery for five months.

Starting Dec. 8, the museum will close that area while a connection is built to the new fourth building. The new building, expected to open in the spring of 2016, will offer both ground and upper level views of all the new galleries — Presidential Aircraft, Research and Development, Space and Global Reach.

Retired Lt. Gen. Jack Hudson, the museum's director, said the short-term inconvenience of the closure is worth the payoff.

The museum — with roughly 1.2 million annual visitors — is a vital part of the Dayton regional economy as it arguably the top draw for those visiting town.

Related: The museum recently began reviving an old a Titan 4B rocket, the largest artifact restoration project in its history.

The museum broke ground in June on the $35.4 million fourth building, which is being privately financed by the Air Force Museum Foundation. With construction well under way, the foundation continues to raise funds toward its campaign goal of $46 million. Reaching that goal would allow the foundation to provide things such as theatrical lighting, STEM learning tools and wireless capability in the building, said Fran Duntz, chair of the foundation.

The fourth building will house aircraft from the museum's Presidential, Research and Development and Global Reach collection, as well as a new and expanded Space Gallery.