Virtual Air Force Museum Tour

National Museum of the US Air Force

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/VirtualTour.aspx

 I love air shows and planes so I found this site and tour especially compelling. It is a virtual tour of the National Museum of the US Air Force. The tour is 360 degrees, you can even see planes suspended from the ceiling, and look down at the floor. This has an amazing amount of information packed into the site. There is a map of the many sections of the museum. Videos and audio compliment the presentations in this tour. It was amazing to be able to see the objects up close as if you were actually there. I like the arrows on the video to guide you as you walk through this exciting environment. I learned a lot about aviation history, World Wars, and the heroes of flight. I was absolutely amazed at this virtual tour. It was so interesting, and engaging that I felt as if I had actually gone there.

Below the virtual tour of the museum there is the Cockpit 360 program. It shows the insides of planes and the cockpits of each one. Take a tour of an Air Force One plane, it is amazing! This technology lets you zoom in to see close ups of all the devices and rooms on the planes. There is also a video of the photographer explaining how he uses his special camera to take pictures of the planes and museums. That was educational to watch.

This amazing technology has many creative and learning applications. This technology could be used along with Google Earth to take "virtual tours" of famous places, buildings, historic sites, and battlefields. Students and educators can go on these virtual tours and learn a lot about any environment. I think this has a lot of potential for exploration and application.