Adam RasmussenChannel 2 News
The Nevada Air Guard held its first open house in 15 years Saturday afternoon, and hundreds of people took full advantage of the opportunity.
Folks got an up-close and personal look at more than a dozen types of aircraft on display, as well as a variety of military exhibits.
"Since I do want to be a pilot, it'll be nice to see some of the planes I might be flying someday," says 13-year-old Lucas Reccelle.
The Nevada Air National Guard Base in Reno took on a whole new look Saturday. Instead of pilots hopping into cockpits, it was excited kids who have never experienced anything like this before.
"They're crawling all over the airplanes," says Jason Yuhasz with the Air Guard. "That's what we're here for, to let the folks see it and touch it and smell it and get their hands on the airplanes."
With more than a dozen aircrafts on display, families explored each one inside and out.
"I'm actually part of the Air Guard," says Scott Dangel. "So I'm a crew chief on the C-130. So it's good to bring my family down here and actually show them a little bit about what I do and they get to go through and just enjoy the day."
While all the aircrafts received plenty of attention, it was the 247 foot long strategic air lift plane people simply could not resist. The C-5 Galaxy was built in 1986, and can carry over 800,000 pounds of cargo all the way to the Middle East.
"It looks like it would be a kind of a big lumbering jet, but it actually controls pretty well for being as large as it is," says Dan Stout.
Stout is the pilot of this monster, and flew bombers when he was active duty.
"People aren't used to seeing planes that are this large," he says. "And most of them say it's hard to believe something that big can get off the ground, so I think this is kind of the thing people like about it."
As large as it is from the outside, we found out it's pretty cramped on the inside. Especially considering it still fits around 15 Guardsmen at once. Seeing folks tour the planes with so much curiosity and interest was exactly what the guard hoped to see.
"We show the public this is what we do and we invite you to come in see where your tax money is going, and you might just think it's a really cool day," says Yuhasz.
