But I caught one last week and took her to Pensacola to see the Naval Air Museum, a place I've always wanted to visit. And I was not disappointed.
It's actually on the base, so get ready for the 100% security check.
Hey look--an F-14!
And just inside (after another security checkpoint), there was this Douglas A-4 Skyhawk!
And here is the only SBU-2 Vindicator left in the world. And this one only survived after being lost overboard during carrier training in Lake Michigan and being recovered and restored 47 years later! (Shown with Paige for scale.)
And here's a T-28 Trojan trainer hanging above a Grumman F9F Panther jet. Yep. I'm happy in here. And Paige is somewhat confused, as before we got here she had no idea that the Navy had airplanes.
And I found a Corsair!
Here's a Vought F7U-3 (not a 3M as marked...tsk!). Not one of the more successful early jets; they were under-powered and problematic and over a quarter of them were destroyed in crashes and they killed 21 Navy pilots and four test pilots before being withdrawn from service.
And here's a few older ones...A Grumman F4F-3 below, and a sweet Beechcraft UC Traveler above.
And here's an F3F-2 biplane. This one was also ditched at sea off San Diego in 1940. Rediscovered by the Navy in 1988, she was raised in 1991 and restored and here she is today.
By this time, Paige was like "Why are there so many?" Poor girl didn't even know yet how much she was about to learn.
More to come. Stay tuned.
https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/nnam/virtualtour/
Hey Murphy;
ReplyDeleteYep the Pensacola museum is one of my favorites, partially because they LET you touch the airplanes. And I have gone several times, and while you were there did you go to the CUBI cafe?, the plaques are works of art and Paige seems to be a nice girl also. OLD NFO knows a lot about that museum since he has flown most of the airplanes that are hanging ;)
The Air and Space Annex would blow her mind...
ReplyDeleteI loved my visit there. Didn't realise what it was and stopped on a whim. I was also forthcoming with the gate guards about what *ahem* artillery I had in the car, after rolling the gold. He tried to turn me away twice, but I kept smiling and telling him how cool the place looked, and kept letting the line of cars get longer behind me... he may or may not have eventually just asked me to leave it in the glovebox while enjoying my visit. 😆
ReplyDeleteThat is going to be my problem as well - I'll be heading back thru Pensacola from my trip to Texas in early May, but while in Texas I'm taking a gun course. Not sure how kindly the SP's at the gate will take to my car's trunk being full of guns and ammo!
DeleteOne of my favorite places.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the NAS Pensacola museum since 1977. But I saw that T-28 from VT-6 in a picture . There was a Trojan in the squadron with side number 555, everybody called her "Triple Nickle." I guess she got burned with the rest of them....
ReplyDeleteI hear the museum either has or will soon have a Brewster Buffalo on display. The aircraft was recovered from a frozen lake in Finland and traded to the Navy.
It's good, and the Blues A-4s in the Atrium ARE in correct formation, yes they actually overlap that far in flight... :-) And NO I did not crew the NC-4 in there... sigh
ReplyDeleteHope you got to visit Fort Barrancas also. It guards the mainland side of Pensacola Bay, as Fort Pickens guards the entrance to the bay on Santa Rosa Island. Behind Fort Barrancas is Fort Redoubt, but that wasn't open to the public when I was stationed in Pensacola in '81, and still might not be, for all I know. The Pensacola Lighthouse is also on base.
ReplyDeleteYep. Barrancas was closed when we were there, but we got to Pickens, so stay tuned!
Delete^Fort Barrancas and Fort Redoubt are both on NAS, if I didn't make that clear.
ReplyDelete