DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A new $46 million aircraft and space gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is now scheduled to open in late 2015, with five companies competing to build it. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will select the winning bid for construction of the 224,000-square-foot building for the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. The building to house rare presidential and research and development aircraft, spacecraft and cargo planes is expected to promote tourism, according to museum Director John Hudson.
“We know it will boost attendance,” said Hudson, a retired Air Force lieutenant general. “We are confident that is going to be a big attraction.”
Museum officials did not release estimates on how much the expansion is expected to increase attendance, the Dayton Daily News reported. More than 1.2 million people visited the museum last year.
Hudson says the exact cost of the building won’t be known until the contract is awarded later this year. The Air Force Museum Foundation has raised $38 million to pay for the expansion, and will continue raising money after construction begins, said Mona Vollmer, the foundation’s chief development officer.
Bids for the construction are due Oct. 2, with the work scheduled to begin next year.
Firms compete to expand U.S. Air Force museum