More NAS Pensacola!

Found an F-4 Phantom II at the NAS museum.

Some stuff opened.

Alas, no boarding ladders.

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Here's an FJ-2 Fury(top), the Navy attempt at making an F-86 into a capable carrier plane.

Didn't really work due to landing gear and other issues, but it does look nice in blue. And that's an F-11F Tiger below.
Another shot.

The F-11 Tiger is famous for being the first jet aircraft to shoot itself down.During a test-firing of its 20mm cannons the pilot fired the guns while in a dive. Eventually the cannon rounds slowed down but the jet did not and as it crossed their path, it was struck by several and damaged, ultimately crash-landing. The pilot, Tom Attridge, survived, but I wonder if he didn't have to paint his own picture on the side of his plane in the space normally used to denote enemy "kills".

And this is a FJ-3. Not am FJ-2/F-86 at all but a redesigned version that was as capable as any of the F-86 variants.

I would like one of these.

Here's my Corsair again.

And an F6F Hellcat.

By now, Paige was starting to get plane fatigue so I had to let her play in the Blue Angels cockpit for a bit.

Found an Me-262, too.

Can't have a Navy museum without a Douglass Skyraider, right? So here's one.

And a Japanese N1K2 "George" is here too. Great plane, but like the Me-262, came along too late to make a difference.

And here's a Curtis P-40.

I'm thinking Paige is now really getting over-planed...

But there's so many more to come. I really had to make it up to her later, but for now, this is MY trip to Mecca!

Adventure time! USS Alabama.

So I skipped work today and headed off to Mobile, Alabama to visit Battleship Park and the USS Alabama, (BB-60).

This beautiful South Dakota class World War Two vet is open to the public and in great shape. Here's the view aft from the bow, looking at two of her three turrets, each of which houses three 16"/45 cal. Mark 6 guns.

Here's one of the projectiles that they fire. 2,700 pounds and accurate out to 21 miles. Nice!

Now THAT is a rifle. Times 3.

Inside the turret...because I go these places for you all.

And look at this breech.

Note the ladder running down behind the breech. On another battleship I won't name, I once managed to get into this shell-hoisting shaft with a little help from a Leatherman tool and descended to the bottle of the barbette, several decks below, my way lit only by a mini-mag flashlight held in my mouth. Best self-guided tour ever! But I was well-behaved on this trip.

Here's a look into the aft turret, which is not as well restored.

Outside the aft turret.

Lots of smaller guns, too. Here's one of the many twin 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns of the main deck.

Another row of Oerlikons (port side). Once the Kamikaze threat became clear, they were putting these guns everywhere on every ship.

Here's a couple of the twin 40mm Bofors Anti-aircraft gun mounts.

Got lots more pics to post...but I'm tired now and it's past the dogs' bedtime too. More to follow.