Dec 23 Ashland: Small Town-Large Attractions

Hello Everyone,

While Nebraska is regarded as flyover country by many, a trip to the eastern part of the state makes you quickly aware that it should be called “Do It Right Country.” You’ll find enough attractions in Lincoln and Omaha to keep you content for weeks. Near the small town of Ashland, at I-80's Exit 426, located between these two large cities are two major attractions that celebrated their 20th anniversaries in 2018. One is the currently number one rated, drive through animal safari while the other is the Strategic Air Command Museum.

WILDLIFE SAFARI PARK

Wildlife Safari Park, under the auspices of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, is also known as Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari. Built in 2000 at a cost of $5 million, it’s a four-mile drive through 360 acres of rolling hills where visitors stay in their cars to see native Nebraska wildlife.

At the admissions toll booth, you’ll be handed a park map. The visitor center is near the entrance. It’s mostly a gift shop but contains a few interactive nature exhibits, small insect and lizard displays, and a concession area.

You’ll come first and last on the drive to the 50-acre Elk Meadow where about 70 American elk reside. Except for the moose, elk are the largest deer in North America. We saw nine in total.

You then pass several white-tailed deer in Deer Woods. These are the smallest members of the North American family. They reside in grasslands and the wooded ravine. They are active at night but seek cover during the day. You may have to look carefully to spot them since they blend in with their environment. Their name refers to the white underside of their tails. It displays when the deer wag their tails, a sign that they sense danger.

The next area to spot animals is the 10-acre wetlands area with its flock of American white pelicans. Most of these are rehabilitated, birds that can’t be released due to wing injuries restricting their flight. One of the largest birds in North America with a nine foot wingspan, they can hold up to three gallons of water in their beaks. They only breed if living in large numbers.

Several other species of birds visit here. These include the blue and green-winged teal, wood ducks, great blue heron, green heron, and American coot. You can get out of your car here and walk up to the pond. Children seem to enjoy checking out the frogs and turtles.

Midway through Wildlife Safari Park, a parking lot is found. It’s home to a concession stand with the typical hot dogs, hamburgers, and ice cream; a restroom; and picnic benches. A short walk from the lot is the Eagle Aviary with four bald eagles. These birds are from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and can’t be released either. For example, one has only one wing. American eagles are no longer on the endangered list.

You can take advantage of two miles of hiking trails passing Wolf Canyon featuring owls and two American black bears before reaching six grey wolves. The three aviaries feature a barn owl, screech owls, and kestrels. I understand the loop takes about 30 minutes and is part trail and part boardwalk. It is steep in spots, rocky, and not ideal for strollers or wheelchairs. We skipped it.

I spent my time photographing the children playing with the eight pygmy goats at the Hands-On Corral. I couldn’t resist petting some of the goats myself.

Crane Meadow is the place to see Sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, ducks, geese, and shore birds. Sandhill cranes are primarily grey with a red forehead and white cheeks. They stand three to five feet tall. Trumpeter swans are North America’s largest waterfowl averaging 25 to 35 pounds. Covered with white plumage, they have a bill, face, and legs that are black.

You can view the waterfowl from your car or climb to the top of a 28-foot observation tower. It was a former media tower at the old Rosenblatt Stadium (used before it was torn down for the College World Series) in Omaha.

Your final stop on the drive is Bison Plains situated on 40 acres of land. We noticed a small herd of 20 bison. Bison are North America’s largest and heaviest land mammals, standing five to 6-1/2 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing over 2,000 pounds. They can run up to 40 mph.

Your road loops back to the visitor center. Take time now to visit the Prairie Dog Town and the aviary. If you have children, they’ll enjoy a small playground.

The Prairie Dog Town’s 2,100 square foot exhibit gives a glimpse into their lifestyle. You can watch them feed, dig holes, and arouse each other with calls. Their major predators are snakes and black-faced ferrets. In the wild, burrowing owls like to use their holes.

The park is also involved with conservation. It is a breeding facility supporting Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. This section is kept out of sight of visitors. It is a four-acre, off-display facility for cheetahs. This allows the cheetahs more space to roam while giving them more privacy. It also resembles their natural habitat more closely.

The site has two large barns - one for breeding females with seven outdoor yards. Another barn, with two outdoor yards, is for females to raise their cubs. There are also five yards to hold the males. They are only brought up to the female barns to breed.

All of the Zoo’s cheetahs are now located in the new facility with the exception of six cubs who are in a habitat with their mother in the African Grasslands exhibit at the Zoo.

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium is one of nine Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions participating in the National Cheetah Breeding Center Coalition. The goal is to sustain the population of this species to prevent its extinction. Only 12,000 to 15,000 cheetahs now remain in the wild. The Zoo is undergoing construction on an Amur tiger breeding facility. It will have the capacity to hold up to six tigers.

On the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., you can join the park’s Backstage Experiences - Cheetah Conservation Tour. It’s for ages eight and up. Cost is $55 with preregistration required.

The Wildlife Safari Park was recently voted the No. 1 Safari Park in the country by readers of USA Today. Having been to many throughout the country, I don’t agree with that assessment. I felt there was a shortage of animals compared to other parks and not enough diversity as to the species we did see. It also doesn’t offer any shows like many parks do. That said, it is always fun to see animals in their natural environments.

DETAILS:

Rules are simple. No petting or feeding the animals except at Hands-On Corral. The animals always have the right of way. On the park’s road, which is gravel, the speed limit is seven mph. You only get out of your vehicle in designated areas which are well marked.

The address is 16404 N. 292 Street, Ashland, just east of I-80 on Nebraska Highway 66. The phone number is (402) 944-9453. It’s a seasonal park only open from April through October. Gates are open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Admissions are adults $7.50, seniors (65+) $6.50, children (ages 3-11) $5.50, and under age two free. For members of the military, it’s $1 cheaper in each category.

STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND & AEROSPACE MUSEUM

In 1948, Offutt Air Force Base, near Bellevue, Nebraska, became the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and continues as headquarters for U.S. Strategic Command. General Curtis LeMay had the vision of a museum that preserved historic aircraft. In 1959, the museum then called the Strategic Aerospace Museum started with its first airplane. The museum moved to its Ashland location in 1998 and was renamed Strategic Air Command Museum or SAC Museum. In 2015, its title was changed to Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum to reflect its original mission of preserving SAC, the Cold War, and aerospace history while promoting an interest in aviation and science with the general public.

SAC, in a $29.5 million, 330,000-square-foot structure, has displays in two hangars, an aircraft restoration hangar, a 200-seat theater with various films throughout the day, a gift shop, a café, and a glass atrium.

The glass atrium encases a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. It’s a spy plane, known as the fastest in the world, which was decommissioned in the late 1990's. It has flown at 3.5 times the speed of sound. Thirty-two of these were built and 20 still exist.

Out front, Atlas, Minuteman, Blue Scout and Snark missiles overlook the parking lot.

SAC Museum, a Smithsonian affiliate, is home to the largest collection of Cold War aircraft and artifacts in the United States. It includes spacecraft, such as the Apollo Command Space Module, and 36 aircraft. They have large signboards providing information about the type of warbird and its uses, specifications, and the history of the particular aircraft. Going to their site provides much of the same information. A free public tour is given daily at 11:00 a.m.

It also houses one temporary and 13 permanent exhibits. These range from one on Nebraska’s astronaut, Clayton Anderson, to those on the Doolittle Raid, the holocaust during World War II, Gary Powers, women pilots, the Tuskegee airmen, and more. They’re found in both hangars and on the mezzanine.

The museum is very involved with STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education via such activities as the boy and girl scouts, summer and winter camps, overnight programs, and field trips. Approximately 35,000 school children visit annually from area schools. The museum is a leader in the areas of robotics, coding, and engineering programs for youth.

Two flight simulators test your skills as a pilot. They feature state-of-the-art motion control and high performance HD-3D visuals and sounds as they immerse riders into flight. Cost is an additional $10 per ride. There are height and weight restrictions. Those above 250 pounds and below 42" cannot ride.

Besides the aircraft, visitors find memorials. One replicates the World Trade Center Towers. It consists of 1,452 neckties, one tie for each person who died during the north tower’s collapse. There is also a memorial wall to honor the area’s fallen war heroes.

TAKING A LOOK AROUND

We started with Hangar A which is the largest. The museum has five aerial bombers. You can see inside their B-17G "Flying Fortress" which has its engines exposed. It was first produced in 1935 and operated in all theaters of operation during World War II. The German Luftwaffe used captured ones to drop their spies into Britain. The Air Force later used retired ones as drone target planes.

You can walk through the cockpit of the B-25N “Mitchell” which has been partially restored. It was the most adaptable of the Allies medium bombers during World War II. It could be converted into a gunship without any major redesign of its frame. In the Pacific, it had the roles of an attack bomber and strafing aircraft. It was manufactured by North American Aviation.

There are only four of the B-36 J “Peacemaker” left in the world, and the museum has one of them. Although it was the largest production bomber ever built, it never dropped a bomb in combat. In 1941, it was conceived as a transatlantic bomber to strike Europe from bases in the United States. By 1943, the focus switched to the Pacific theater. The prototype’s first flight was August 8, 1946; nearly six years after the initial contracts were signed. Pilots referred to it as the “Magnesium Monster” when it was finally made by General Dynamics Corporation.

“The B-36 was the first aircraft at the museum,” said Deb Hermann, marketing director for the SAC Museum. She pointed out that most of the planes have been renovated.

Next to it is an XF-85 Goblin. In 1947, The Air Force modified B-36's to carry this tiny single-seat jet fighter. It was designed to drop out of the bomber and fly around as an escort. Tests at what is now Edwards AFB proved the Goblin could not return to the bomber because of resistance from the mother plane creating turbulence as the fighter approached. The project was dropped in 1948. The museum’s Goblin is one of two built and had the most test time. It crash landed in the desert because it didn’t have landing gear. It was later restored.

We next saw the B-52 “Stratofortress” which has had its cockpit removed. Children can climb into it. It has been the principal bomber of SAC since the 1950's. It was designed as a high-altitude strategic bomber with mid intercontinental ranges. However, its range goals weren’t met during design so it needed in-flight fueling for long range missions. It was used for conventional bombing during Vietnam as well as during Desert Storm.

The B-1A “Lancer” on display is the original test model. The museum has the fourth and last one built. It is one of two that are left. It was intended for high speed, low altitude penetration missions. It uses shorter runways, can carry twice the payload, and has a smaller radar profile than the B-52.

SAC has two foreign airplanes. One is a Soviet Union’s MIG-21F “Fishbed-C.” It was used by the Russians and 20 associate countries. The one at the museum has North Vietnamese markings. The second plane is the British “Vulcan.” It was that country’s largest operation combat aircraft and was designed for strike and strategic reconnaissance roles. It was used in the Falklands War in 1982. The plane is one of three exhibited in the United States.

Between the hangars, visitors find the theater, temporary exhibit gallery, and Children’s Learning Center on the lower level. On the upper level is an extensive gift shop and a library.

Next to these planes is the Charles M. Halper Theater used for a variety of films and presentations. Three different films are held throughout the day which are included in the admission fee. Staff tries to change these every month.

I noticed the wealth of interactive exhibits at the Children’s Learning Center excited the youngsters exploring this area. Their families also seemed to be enjoying the 13 displays. It contains everything from checking out parts of a circuit board to shooting a tennis ball out of a launcher to learn the effects of gravity. The museum’s web site has a page explaining what families will find.

A giant quilt of an American flag inspires a lot of attention. Each square was done by a different child after 2011 to tell the story of what freedom means to them. It was then quilted by local ladies.

Hangar A contains seven exhibits including one on the Doolittle Tokyo Raid and one on General Curtis LeMay. He served in Europe and the Pacific during World War II, coordinated the Berlin Airlift, and was the father of Strategic Air Command. He commanded SAC from 1949 to 1957. He retired from the Air Force in 1965 and was the running mate of George Wallace in the 1968 presidential election.

Visitors see General LeMay’s WWII Pilot’s Flight Case with aviation charts, navigational tools, and manuals; his flight jacket; his desk from days at Offutt Air Force Base; and international retirement gifts from his time as the USAF Chief of Staff. A video documents the SAC Underground Command Post and the famous “Red Phone” used for the CINCSAC to issue guidance to all SAC bases.

“Doolittle’s Tokyo Raiders” exhibit describes the mission and what happened to the crew. Though it was said it couldn’t be done, Doolittle devised a plan that used 16 B-25 bombers to take off from the deck of the USS Hornet to attack Japan. All made it back safely except for one seven-man crew. Of these, four were executed, one died in captivity, and two survived imprisonment.The exhibit also relates the importance of the raid. It was the first joint Army Air Corps and Navy combined mission during World War II. A compass, like the pilots would have used, is displayed.

HANGAR B

Hangar B is the location for more exhibits and aircraft as well as spacecraft and a Black Hole display. It’s the smaller of the two hangars having nine aircraft as compared to 15.

Visitors find in Hangar B the display on the Martin Bomber Plant at what is now Offutt Air Force Base. Martin Aviation manufactured atomic bombers Enola Gay and Bockscar. Highlights are detailed models of the plant and its tools and an engine piston from the bomber Enola Gay. The exhibit on the Berlin Airlift includes a piece of the Berlin Wall.

“The Heartland Astronaut” highlights the life of Clayton Anderson who came from Ashland. He was on Shuttle Mission STS-117 to the International Space Station during the summer of 2007. Clay also completed Shuttle Mission STS-131 in 2010. The display covers his early life and training. It contains such artifacts as flight suits, a flown shuttle tire, and cameras used by Gemini astronaut Wally Schirra. It also has the Atlantis shuttle trainer and a mock-up of the OV-104 cockpit used for training astronauts. It’s one of two shuttles that Anderson flew aboard.

This B-29TB “Superfortress” was the most advanced bomber to operate in World War II. It was used for low-level, night incendiary attacks against Japan and successfully mined the waters around the Japanese mainland. On August 9, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima with the Bockscar following three days later with a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. With the establishment of SAC in 1945, it exclusively used B-29's. They were later used in the Korean War.

You can actually climb into the C-119 “Flying Boxcar” designed in 1941 as the XC-82 Packet for World War II for a fast, mobile, cargo-carrying function. It entered production as the C-82A and was called the C-82 during the 1948 Berlin Airlift. When its model was extensively modified, the Air Force redesignated the plane as the C-119. Production ended in 1955.

Next to it is the KC-97G “Stratofreighter.” Made by Boeing, its design was strongly influenced by the B-50 and B-29. Its wings are very similar to the other two planes. However, its tail is taller than the others. Its whale-like “double-bubble” fuselage is unique to the KC-97G. The KC-97G could refuel the B-47 bomber, but it did not match the speed. The KC-97 had a top speed of 400 mph while the B-47 had one of just over 600 mph. The KC-97 would have to fly closer to its top speed while the B-47 would fly closer to the stall speed for a refueling mission.

This hangar also houses the space collection. Besides Anderson’s Atlantis Shuttle Trainer, you see an Apollo Boilerplate, Apollo Command Module, X-38 Crew Return Vehicle, and Project Vela Satellite. There is an extensive exhibit on Black Holes.

Begun during the 1950's, Project Vela Satellite was supposed to monitor compliance with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It monitored underground, atmospheric, and exoatmospheric nuclear tests. It could also provide scientific data on natural sources of space radiation. It did detect a Russian nuclear explosion which couldn’t be proven. They were removed from service in 1984. This Vela was on the television program Mystery of the Museum.

The XR-38 was a demonstration vehicle project at the Johnson Space Center and Dryden Flight Research Center. It was a prototype for a crew return system for the International Space Station.

The Apollo Command Module was attached on top of a Saturn 1B launch vehicle on February 26, 1966. It reached maximum 310 feet in altitude over the Atlantic Ocean before beginning its descent. The Apollo Boilerplate is used for tests and is a non working version of a spacecraft.

The temporary space will be devoted to “The Robot Zoo” from January 19 to May 10, 2019. Three robot animals: a fly, chameleon, and a platypus will illustrate real-life characteristics of these critters. Activities are hands-on. A visitor can compare his reaction time to a fly. “Sticky Feet” allows visitors to use special hand pads to stick like a fly to a sloped surface. Triggering the “Tongue Gun” illustrates how a chameleon sticks out its tongue.

THE MEZZANINE

The mezzanine has three exhibits worth viewing. These are “Francis Gary Powers & The U–2 Story,” “Tuskegee Airmen,” and “Women in Aerospace.”

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military pilots. They had trained together at Tuskegee Airfield at Tuskegee, Alabama. They participated in North African and Italian campaigns, flying escort for heavy bombers in P-39 “Airacobra” and P-47 “Thunderbolt” aircraft. Crews nicknamed the pilots of the 322nd Fighter Group “Red Tails” because of the red markings on the tails of their planes.

The name Tuskegee Airmen also applied to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The museum has mannequins in uniforms representing the pilots, dioramas, and artwork about them.

The exhibit on Francis Gary Power, who was shot down by the Soviet Union in a U-2 on May 1, 1960, is fascinating. The purpose of his secret CIA reconnaissance mission, Operation Overflight, was missile hunting. The Soviets fired two missiles at the plane hitting the tail. Although the plane crashed, much of its equipment remained intact. The wreckage was displayed at Moscow’s Gorki Park originally and is now on permanent display at the Moscow Military Museum. SAC Museum has a piece of the U-2's wing.

The cover story of the U-2 being a high altitude weather plane stuck until May 7, 1960 when Eisenhower admitted espionage. Powers was sentenced to ten years of prison after being found guilty of this crime. He was released in February 1962 in exchange for Soviet spy Colonel Rudolf Abel. The museum displays a Latvian rug Powers made in prison to kill the time.

In 1976, Powers became a weather newscaster pilot for KNBC in Los Angeles. He died on August 1, 1977 when his helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed into the baseball field in Encino, California. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

On the 40th anniversary of the incident, the United States Air Force and the CIA posthumously honored Powers with the POW medal, the National Defense medal, and the CIA’s Director medal for “extraordinary fidelity and essential service.” These medals are also exhibited.

“Women in Aerospace” covers 100 years of history of women in flight. It’s almost like a Hall of Fame for women pilots. Those like Amelia Earhart and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, are known. Others like Marjorie and Katherine Stinson are not.

Marjorie and Katherine Stinson were early pilots at the start of the 1900's. Katherine was the fourth woman in the U.S. to earn a pilot’s license. She was the first pilot to ever fly at night and the first to undertake skywriting using flares at night. She set many records, and was the first woman sworn in by the Post Office as an air mail carrier.

Marjorie was the ninth woman to earn her license and the youngest at age 18. She also became an air mail carrier including performing the first ever air mail flight in Western Canada. She was inducted into the U.S. Aviation Reserve Corps as the only woman in 1915. After the war, she barnstormed around the country until 1928.

The Stinson family moved to San Antonio where they started a flight school, the Stinson School, where they trained Royal Canadian Flying Corps pilots during World War I. Their brother Eddie was the mechanic while their mother handled the business. The school closed at the war’s end. In 1925, Eddie formed, with other investors, the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate. The company’s designs were produced into the 1950s.

Jacqueline Cochran has her own signboard. On May 18, 1953, she became the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound. When she died in 1980, she held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot in aviation history.

She organized the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) during World War II. That merged with Nancy Love’s Women Auxiliary Ferry Squadron (WAFS) to form the Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots (WASP) in 1943 with Cochran serving as director. The WASP flew every type of military aircraft. After the war, she was a 14-time winner of the Harmon Trophy for best female pilot.

Nancy Harkness Love, an American pilot, convinced Colonel William H. Tunner to allow her to set up a group of female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to air bases. It was eventually approved as the WAFS. The squadrons were at Love Field, Dallas,Texas; New Castle, Delaware; Romulus, Michigan; and Long Beach, California. She commanded these units and later all ferrying operations for WASP. She was awarded the Air Medal for her work and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force Reserve in 1948.

DETAILS:

Public tours are given daily starting at 11:00 a.m. and are conducted by a volunteer staff member. These last two hours.

The SAC Museum is located at 28210 West Park Highway, on Nebraska Highway 66, near Ashland. The telephone number is (402) 944-3100. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. Admissions are adults $12, active/retired/veteran military $11, seniors $11, and ages 4-12 $6. It’s free for those under age four. They rent scooter wheelchairs for $5 and provide wheelchairs for free.

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