A mock up of a combat mess hall is displayed in the Modern Flight Gallery, but there is so little explanation that it almost seems out of place and the visitor is left wondering about the meaning of it. Perhaps the single most interesting exhibit is a collection of artifacts from prisoners of war. A mousetrap made of tin cans and other items fashioned from scant resources to help POWs adapt to their environment, adds a decidedly humanizing element to the shrine to the machinery of warfare. While this museum is definitely worth the visit and will appeal to a broad audience, the visitor must be conscious that it presents the perspective of the agency that operates it, the United States Air Force. The museum is open 9 to 5 daily except on major holidays and admission is free.
Admission is charged for the IMAX theater on the premises.
The Pennsylvania House Museum, located at 1311 West Main Street in Springfield, Ohio, was originally built and operated as an inn and tavern from the mid 1820s to 1869. Located on the junction of the old National Road and Dayton-Springfield Pike, the inn took advantage of the traffic of pioneers heading west as well as freight bound for Cincinnati and other points South. The advent of the railroad diminished this traffic so significantly that by 1869, the inn was forced to close its doors. In later years, it served as a sanitarium, boarding house, and junk store. By the 1930s it was a flophouse and in such a horrible state of repair that it was condemned and ordered to be demolished.