Historic aircraft and buildings of the National Museum of the Air Force were extensively damaged by a tornado that hit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Images shared online by the 88th Air Base Wing, show the extent of damages sustained by the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, after an early-morning tornado hit the base on Feb. 28, 2024.
⚠️Severe weather in effect: A tornado watch watch has been issued for #WPAFB. Valid Feb. 28 from 12:01 to 4 a.m. A warning will be issued if required and further updates will be shared on our Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/WnUhtMG3k2
— 88th Air Base Wing (@WrightPattAFB) February 28, 2024
According to the first reports, U.S. Air Force’s Restoration Hangar 4, Gate 22B (I-675 Gate) and several other buildings on WPAFB’s Area B sustained damage. The 88th Civil Engineer Group, first responders and base safety personnel are assessing damage throughout the base. No injuries have been reported at the moment.
“Our initial assessment from this morning’s storm is the damage is isolated to the southern side of Area B,” said Col. Travis Pond, 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander in a public statement. “Our initial focus right now is on safety and damage assessment. I can’t speak highly enough about our security forces, Fire Department and civil engineer Airmen for their quick response and hard work to assess damage and determine a path forward for restoring operations as quickly as possible.”
Damage photos can be viewed on the 88 ABW Flickr page.
The images show that a two-seat F-104D Starfighter and a T-33 parked outside the hangar have been significantly damaged. A photo also shows an F-15A Eagle inside the restoration hangar, although it’s not whether it has been damaged or not.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
