Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas Texas

One of the exhibits at Frontiers of Flight - Photo (c) Edward Cardona

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It was pouring down rain when I entered the Frontiers of Flight Museum, so exploring the outside and the aircraft on display was not in the stars, but there was more than enough inside to fascinate for several hours.

In a space of over 100,000 square-feet, there’s a lot to see in this Smithsonian Affiliate museum. “The World War II area is exceptional for the story it tells,” says Dan Hamilton, Executive Director of the museum. Among the many activities, visitors can watch an old newsreel from the 1940s. Next door, sit in on a World War I briefing in a old military building.

They are also very proud of their Space Exploration Gallery. The highlight is the actual Apollo 7 Command Module, on loan from the Smithsonian. It is one of their centerpiece exhibits and was my favorite. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been to survive that 10-day flight in October of 1968 unless you can look inside and see the three seats where Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham sat knee and shoulder next to one another in a tiny, claustrophobic capsule – day after day.

Nearby areas screen a movie of the mission, hold an actual piece of moon rock, and exhibit a day-by-day schedule of the mission.

There’s a huge 40-foot-long Cruise missile prototype that looks more like a futuristic plane than a missile,  navy jets, a movie on the history of modern air power.

Along one wall is a collection of seats that look like a chairs from a torture chamber, but in fact are 19 ejection seats.

Balloons and airships exhibit is also popular. There’s a whole area devoted to the Hindenburg, the German airship that burst into flames as it attempted to land in New Jersey in 1937.

The children’s area, built in one-half of an existing hanger is a joy for adults and children. Climb aboard and peer into a real cockpit of a modern airplane, then wander over to a 1950s Piper Pacer and see how a old prop two-seater – quite the opposite flying experiences. There’s the Thorp T-18, a home built plane from the 1960s, a helicopter for kids to peer into, plus an aviation-themed play area.

About three or four times a year, the museum docents open all the cockpits and the covers come off to allow visitors to clamber inside all their marvelous aircraft.

They are currently working on a commercial aviation section and already have a fascinating exhibit on Braniff Airlines, which was started and headquartered in Dallas. It was the ex-employees who donated much of the memorabilia and furnished some of the fascinating facts, such as Braniff’s first flight attendant uniform was designed by Bess Braniff, founder Tom Braniff’s wife.

With more exhibits, artifacts and events, the Frontiers of Flight Museum is one of Dallas’ must see attractions..

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