South Dakota Air And Space Museum

The South Dakota Air and Space Museum is a part of the museum system of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.  The South Dakota Air and Space Museum is located in Box Elder, SD just outside the Main Gate of Ellsworth Air Force Base.  The museum contains a number of interior and exterior exhibits including 28 aircraft ranging from WW II bomber and transport to the contemporary B-1B Lancer.  There are four different missiles including the Minuteman II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.  The museum also has the South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame, a Missile Procedures Training Exhibit.  A F-106 interactive aircraft cockpit, a B-18 Cockpit and offensive/defensive System operators simulator and an exhibit of the Stratosphere Balloon Launch from the early 1930s.  In the summer months, for a fee, visitors can take a bus tour of the base and a Minuteman missile training launch facility.
The Air museum is very well done and the aircraft that is on display is well maintained and you really get a chance to look at them, walk all around and even go underneath of it if you want to.  Each display has a plaque that says what the aircraft is and a little bit of history of the aircraft.  Inside the museum there are some really nice exhibits with great detail about the exhibit.  The really neat thing was taking the tour of the missile silo.  I have seen all those movies where you see the missiles being launched and it was very cool to actually see one.  The one we visited was on the base and was always a training facility.  There were 151 armed missile silos surrounding Rapid City that were built in the late 1940s early 1950s and were manned and maintained until 1998 when they were all disarmed to honor the treaty with Russia.  Of course, my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I got into the silo.  Luckily I had my cell phone and took pictures with that.  If you are ever in the Rapid City area I would recommend a visit to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum.  The best part is that it is free.
We head further west today.  We are headed for Montana where it will take us about two and 1/2 days to cross.  It is a big state.  We will be driving through a portion of Wyoming so I can can cross off two more states that I have never visited.  We have enjoyed our visit in Rapid City and the surrounding areas.  There is so much to do here and even though we have been here nine days we still did not do everything we wanted to.  We just ran out of time.  I recommend Rapid City, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, etc as a great vacation.  All of it is family friendly too!  We will definitely be back again!  As for now, Westward, Ho!