OT: Naval Aviation Museum

[HenryA]

Was recently in Florida and drove over to Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. Very impressive displays of around 150 aircraft from the beginning on. Missed Blue Angels practice unfortunately, but spent a short day there and could have stayed longer.

http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/

Thought of oldpotatoe when I walked around this one.

[AngryScientist]

very cool. on the list of places i would like to visit.

have you been to the USS Midway museum in SD? Also a lot of cool naval aircraft on display, and you are able to get into an up close to most of them. neat stuff.

[Mike Bryant]

Very cool museum. Went there years ago when retired WW2 era Naval Aviators (not pilots, that’s Air Force, as they are quick to point out) give guided tours. Besides the details of the aircraft they brought out, the “war stories” were absolutely great!
You need to go.


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[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

very cool. on the list of places i would like to visit.

have you been to the USS Midway museum in SD? Also a lot of cool naval aircraft on display, and you are able to get into an up close to most of them. neat stuff.

I was going to mention this AND The marine Aviation Museum/Display at Marine Aviation Station Miramar which is also in San Diego. They have any interesting collection arranged outdoors so it's easy to visit with kids or not.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I was going to mention this AND The marine Aviation Museum/Display at Marine Aviation Station Miramar which is also in San Diego. They have any interesting collection arranged outdoors so it's easy to visit with kids or not.

ahh, next trip for sure. good tip!

my kids had an absolute blast on the Midway. Got a real kick out of getting in the planes and the couple little basic simulators they have on deck.

[Gummee]

I've been to a pair of the Battleship museums so far:

Missouri
North Carolina

Those things look HUGE when they're empty. I'll bet with wartime crews on em, they were in fact very small.

Been to the Midway in Sandy Eggo too.

While the Navy may take it's home with it, I'm not so sure I wanna be in that big of a target. Ditto with being a tanker.

I'll take the NBC stuff I was trained in first, thankyouverymuch

M

forgot to add the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the Annex out by Dulles. Muy bueno

[RFC]

For those like me who like roaming aeronautic museums, I also strongly recommend the SAC Air Museum in Omaha. A large collection with a number rare planes.

[Ralph]

Have going to the Pensacola museum on my list. It's a long way from me though. All day drive one way.

[Hellgate]

The USS Lexington in Corpus Christi is an outstanding museum too. For history buffs it's well worth the trip.

https://www.usslexington.com/

[el cheapo]

For aviation buffs...one of the greatest museums in the world is The United States Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio. Awesome experience with just about every plane ever flown by the USAF. You can't go wrong here.

[benb]

Wow.. maybe someday I'll get there.

The Naval Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor is fantastic too, makes for an extra stop to fill up a day at Pearl Harbor. Highly recommended.

The first time I went to Pearl Harbor was 2009.. at that time there were still veterans from WW2 who were volunteering in museum. We got a little tour from a gentleman who had piloted a B-24 in World War 2... he had incredible knowledge of some of the displays such as engines. Very neat thing, there can't be many days of that left..

[benb]

Originally Posted by el cheapo

For aviation buffs...one of the greatest museums in the world is The United States Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio. Awesome experience with just about every plane ever flown by the USAF. You can't go wrong here.

Yah.. this place is utterly beyond amazing.

I need to go back. There was a snowstorm the day I was there, and they closed the Presidential Hangar where the Air Force One planes & the B-70 Valkyrie are housed...

The display of ICBMs at Wright Patterson is an amazing thing too. As is the display on Joseph Kittenger's parachute jump from space in 1959-1960.

There was a video-gamey F-15 flight sim you could pay $20 or something to try at the AF Museum... it's a dumb dogfighting game, not a good flight sim, but it's really worth trying as they strap you into it and it's a full motion flight sim with inversion. It's something else completely to feel what it's like to be upside down and such trying to fly a plane.

[josephr]

The aviation museum in Tucson is pretty cool....they used to let folks walk around the boneyard but now its bus tour only and they won't let you stop. The Smithsonian's collection is amazing too!

If you think aviation is cool....stop by the US Space and Rocket Center in H'ville,AL on your way to Pensacola. A Saturn V and an SR-71 just to start!

[oldpotatoe]

It IS a great museum as is the USSMidway museum. I spent about 500 nights sleeping on board the ‘Midway-Maru’. Great ship. Only bad news is....every jet I flew, every ship I sailed in and every squadron I was in, is now gone/decommissioned or replaced by newer jets...yup-old fart.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Only bad news is....every jet I flew, every ship I sailed in and every squadron I was in, is now gone/decommissioned or replaced by newer jets...yup-old fart.

I feel your pain. When I showed my teenage daughter three aircraft types that I flew on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, her reply was along the lines of "Just how old are you?!?"

Greg