Peek Into
the Past
The National Park Service offers
history along with landscapes
IN PLANE SIGHT
Tuskegee cadets greet
Air Force captain Benjamin
O. Davis Jr., farright,in 1942.
; Tuskegee Airmen National
Historic Site, Alabama
As World War II raged, Tuskegee,
Alabama, became the site of a barrier-breaking program when African
American pilots and mechanics were
granted U.S. military training there.
These pilots went on to protect Allied
bombers. Remember these men by
climbing into a 1940s flight simulator
and listening to their recorded voices
(334-724-0922; nps.gov/tuai).
a replicated barracks and take a
3.2-mile driving tour to absorb this
shameful episode in U.S. history
(760-878-2194; nps.gov/manz).
Orange historic park. The grounds
include 14 research and manufacturing buildings and Edison’s 29-room
home (973-736-0550; nps.gov/edis).
; Thomas Edison National
Historical Park, New Jersey
A recent multimillion-dollar preser-
vation brought upgrades to this West
; Manzanar National Historic
Site, California
In 1942 the U.S. government detained
more than 110,000 people of Japanese
descent in ten remote, military-style
camps across the country. More than
10,000 were held at the Manzanar
War Relocation Center, between Los
Angeles and Reno, Nevada. View
; Minuteman Missile National
Historic Site, South Dakota
Ride an elevator 31 feet below the
prairie, 75 miles east of Rapid City, to
a tiny, egg-shaped capsule. Air Force
officers lived in similar rooms for
three decades while standing ready
to launch a counterattack against
any nuclear-missile strike during the
cold war; they were prepared to arm
a Minuteman II missile able to reach
speeds of 15,000 miles per hour. You
can also go topside to tour the launch-control facility (605-433-5552; nps
.gov/mimi). —Laura Daily
