A day surrounded by things with wings.

This week-end, I was blessed to have a good friend, Tom, and his young son Damien come to visit. And on Sunday, we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Annex at Dulles to see some vintage military veterans.

Old NFO was waiting for us when we got there.

What? What did I say?

Anyway, the four of us spent a few nice hours walking among the warbird collection.
Here's the SR-71 that greets you when you come in.

Off to the right of the observation platform is this Chance-Vought F4U-1D Corsair.

Here's another shot, because who doesn't love Corsairs? (Old Japanese pilots excepted.)
I need this Corsair.

Ryan PT-22 trainer.

Northrop P-61C "Black Widow" night-fighter.

Republic F-105D that could not be more awesome if you...covered it with awesome sauce, I guess.

It's awesome.

The North American F-100 Super Sabre was America's first truly supersonic jet fighter.

Next to the Super Sabre sits a Curtiss Helldiver.

And just down the way sits a Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

Admit it...you're humming the song from Top Gun now...or at least thinking it.

North American's F-86 never stopped being cool.

This Cessna O-1A "Bird Dog" did just about everything that a light plane could do in the skies over both Korea and Vietnam.

And this Hawker Hurricane once kicked German ass in the skies over Britain.

Old NFO told us about how he used to fly on these Sikorsky H-34s.

He also had some great stories about his time on these Lockeed Super Constellations.

I'm pretty sure that he logged some hours on this Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny", too (snicker).

And what visit to this museum would be complete without a minute to reflect on one of the two Boeing B-29s that ended the Second World War seventy years ago?

A great day with great people surrounded by great planes. Who could ask for more?

More Udvar-Hazy

This heavily-modified North American P-51C has quite a history. It was first owned by Hollywood stunt pilot legend and racer Paul Mantz, who used it to win the Bendix air races in 1946 and 1947 before setting a transcontinental speed record with it. Mantz then sold it to Charles Blair, who used it to set more speed records on flights from New York to London and from Norway across the North Pole to Alaska.

And here on the other side is a stock Grumman F6F Hellcat.

This one was actually used to gather data in the early atomic bomb tests...but they say that it's not really radioactive any more.

Not far away is this Grumman G-22 aerobatic plane, once flown by Al Williams, air show pilot for Gulf Oil. He last flew it on it's final flight into Washington National Airport for donation to the Smithsonian in 1948.

Turning around, you look down on one of the most famous aircraft in military history, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, one of the two aircraft that ended World War Two.

She's huge, but this building is so big that she fits in here just fine. Here's the tail-gunner position below her rudder.

And beneath her huge wings we see this Republic P-47 on one side:

And a Japanese Kawanishi N1K2 Shiden Kai "George" behind that.

On the other side of Enola Gay, there's this beautiful Lockheed P-38J, shown in it's "preserved, not restored" condition to reflect the way that she looked when she came out of storage.

Behind that is a classic Hawker Hurricane that Old AFSarge and I both drooled over for a while.

Old Sarge put it best: "The Spitfires got all the credit, but the Hurricanes did all the work."

It kills me knowing that there are runways right outside. Pity that there's no door open to them or me and this Hurricane might have to skate out. Hell, ANY of these fighters would be a joy to fly, even for just a few minutes.

And speaking of aviation gems that just beg to be flown, This ultra-rare P-61 "Black Widow", still wearing her old NACA colors, has a special spot in the collection...and in my heart.

Just a baby when she ended her flying career and came here; she only had 531 hours on her engines. That's not nearly enough and I'll be starting a petition to convince the museum to let me take her up for a few more hops.

The twin-engined Japanese plane in front of the P-61 in this last picture is a Nakajima J1N1 "Irving" night-fighter, the only one still existing.

There will be more later. Stay tuned. And special thanks goes out to OldAFSarge's incredibly tolerant wife and daughter for gamely putting up with us all morning as OldAFSarge and I ran around like two hungry fat kids in a candy store.

A trip to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum

This past Friday weather looked good for flying, so Aaron and I took off and headed northeast to visit the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, PA.

The flight into Reading was uneventful and took about an hour and a half under some low clouds. My camera was close to dead so I got no in-flight pictures, but when we landed at Reading and taxied over to the FBO adjacent to the museum, we got plenty.

They have this wonderful P2V Neptune there, which actually flies, or at least used to and might again with a bit of TLC.

An old Anti-submarine warplane that pre-dated the P-3 and S-2, a few still soldier on today as fire-bombers. I saw another one at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona this summer. This one is in better shape though.

Supposedly they still fly this one to airshows a few times a year.

Here's a DC-3 that supposedly flies, too.

And a P-84 that doesn't, and probably never will again.

Pity. Even in decay, she's still got beautiful lines.

Their website claims that this Sikorsky HH-52A still flies, but with the rotors missing, I have my doubts.

As to the helicopters behind it...doubtful they'll ever see the sky again.

Over in the corner though is a Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar".

She looks pretty rough too, but it looks like all of the big pieces are there, at least.

Most of the rest of the outdoor birds are in a condition that just kinda make you want to cry.

But their indoor collection is another matter entirely. Jammed into a way-too-small hangar is an eclectic collection of military and civilian aircraft that would make any aircraft aficionado drool. To start with, you walk in the door and nearly knock yourself out on this Grumman TBM Avenger.

This particular one flew to Thunder Over Michigan this year and we saw it there, but it didn't fly, much to my disappointment.

This one survived to be restored as it was kept in service as a fire-bomber while most of it's brothers were scrapped.

There's a B-25 Mitchell in there, too. It's shoe-horned in tight.

Beneath the wing of the Mitchell sits a beautiful Ercoupe. I thought for a while that I might wind up having to fly one of these since they have no rudder or brake pedals.

They've got a cherry 1944 Aeronca 65-TAC in there.

And they've got an N3N-3 trainer.

They've got a Vultee Valiant that lights my fire nicely.

And an SNJ.

But the hallmark of the collection at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum is this rare beauty undergoing reconstruction in the back corner:

A Northrop P-61 "Black Widow" night fighter. One of only four left in the world.

This gem was recovered in the late 1980's from a mountainside in New Holland, where it had lain since it crashed there in 1945.

It's undergoing a total restoration, (documented here) and when complete, it will be the only flying P-61 in existence.

New motor mount to hold the new engine.

New skin being fitted.

Taking shape nicely. Seeing this warbird rising like a phoenix from it's wreckage was worth the trip here all by itself.

After paying homage to the collection, we hit the gift shop then flew back home, catching a nice tailwind and making it back in about an hour. By the time we got down and put the plane to bed, some of our fellow shooters were letting me know that they were in town for the next day's shoot, so an impromptu gathering was arranged at the local Japanese Steakhouse. It was truly a good day.