WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE Dayton, OH — Tours of historic presidential and experimental aircraft will end today because of budget cuts at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
The cuts will sideline bus tours during the peak tourist season to the Presidential and Research and Development Galleries and a restoration hangar housing one-of-a-kind planes separated from the main museum.
The presidential hangar includes several planes used as Air Force One including the one that carried President John F. Kennedy’s body after he was assassinated in Dallas nearly 50 years ago on Nov. 22, 1963. President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on board that aircraft. Planes used by presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower are also in the gallery.
Ending the tours will save $120,000 in transportation and utility costs, part of $374,000 the museum must cut because of automatic federal budget cuts dubbed sequestration, officials said.
Earlier this month, Museum director Jack Hudson said the tour cancellations will preserve seven-day-a-week operations at the main complex which attracts about 1.2 million visitors a year, more than half of whom visit during the summer. Of those, more than 90,000 people toured the galleries and hangars last year where the tours will end.
The museum’s annual budget is more than $14 million and is the largest free admission attraction in Ohio.
Air Force Museum ends popular tours