They've got pretty much everything in here, from an SR-71 (shown above) to this Wright Flyer (below) which I suspect is similar to the ones that Old NFO first crewed.
They have Warhawks and Corsairs,
Sabres and Huns.
They've got Phantoms,
and Tomcats,
Intruders,
And Thuds.
(Sorry, Ed. I meant to get better pictures of this D model.)
They've even got the Space Shuttle Discovery in here now, after 39 missions and a rather premature forced retirement, IMHO.
There's a P-38 Lightning, shown center, and behind it...
The B-29 Enola Gay, one of the two bombers that finally made the Japanese see the light and start to get reasonable back in 1945.
Here's a shot of the top of the Enola Gay, showing where the forward .50cal. machine gun turret used to be. I never realized that they took those off before her epic flight to save on weight and drag.
Here's a D-model Republic P-47.
And a positively drool-worthy ex-German FW-190.
They've even got the last surviving Arado 234b Blitz bomber, the first operational jet bomber, shown here with Rocket-Assisted Take-Off (RATO) pods mounted under the wings.
There will be more later, but for now, company's awake so I've got to go. See ya!
I have so got to go there when the Nuke takes up her new assignment in DC. Great pics! Now I just have to get this drool off my keyboard...
ReplyDeleteThe whole collection is drool-worthy, my friend. Thank you!
ReplyDelete:drool:
ReplyDeleteWere you on a private tour? There are no crowds! Or do they not let you get up next to them?
ReplyDeleteGreat photos!
ReplyDeleteYep, fantastic collection... WELL worth the trip!!!
ReplyDelete@ Juvat: It was a Friday, so crowds were light, but yeah, they're also behind rails so you can't get right up on them.
ReplyDeleteThat is too damned cool! Definitely checking it out if I'm ever over that way.
ReplyDeleteNice! Makes we want to go. I have never been there. I also need to go back to Wright-Patterson sometime.
ReplyDeleteDon't go to the Air & Space museum when the school kids are on their spring break.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I had been in Washington DC a couple of dozen times in the past 40 years my daughter had only visited when she was very young 20 something years ago.
I took my daughter there a few years back at "break time" and we literally couldn't walk in the front doors with the huge crowds.
So, since it was a nice day, we strode down to the "Wall" so I could visit with a few old buddies. On the way we stopped at the new WW-II memorial and the Korean War memorial. Then it was a hop on the metro to Arlington National cemetery.
We were on sacred ground and we could feel it!
I still get shivers when I think of that.