City: Ellsworth AFB, SD

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (605) 385-5188

Address: I-90, Exit 67

Description: If you’re a military or aviation history buff, or if you just love airplanes, you’ll enjoy this museum. Outside displays include more than 27 planes and helicopters, including General Eisenhower’s personal transport and a Mitchell B-25 bomber. Inside, explore the history of the base, tour a mock-up of a Minuteman launch control center, and see military memorabilia. The South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame is housed here, too, with tributes to pioneer aviators that are especially interesting. Read about Nellie Willhite, who—despite being deaf—became South Dakota’s first licensed female pilot (see the Close-up in the Getting Here, Getting Around chapter); Clyde Ice, barnstormer, wing walker, and aerobat; and aviatrix Violet Cowden, who made her first parachute jump on her 74th birthday. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. A narrated bus tour ($) is available from mid-May to mid-Sept, lasts about an hour, and includes a descent into a real Minuteman II missile silo. The museum is near the base’s main gate; watch for signs and lots of parked planes.