February 12, 2004 - Livingston, TX
Can't get this close to a famous museum and not take a gander, now can we. Particularly if it's free admission, so off we went to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. The tour took us to the restoration hanger, where the workers are all volunteers. Matter of fact, no tax dollars were or are spent directly on the museum. A bunch of retired pilots got together and decided to save some of the old war birds that were being scrapped, and one thing led to another, and here they are.
Couple of helicopters being worked on, and then this one that really caught my eye. That bag is sitting on the pilot's seat, the joystick is sticking up there, the black thing, and the foot rests have those straps (for lifting, not for the pilot) on them.
Now I'm on the other side of that strange contraption, the bag is still on the seat, etc. The engine turns that shaft that goes up to what looked like a helicopter type gear set. A personal tiny helicopter? Sort of like an ultra light but in helicopter form? Did the military really have such things? How cool would that be? Sure could beat the commuter traffic, and even now in this lifestyle I can think of a dozen reasons to have one. And one really big chopper. It's pilot was the tour bus driver, and he hated the thing. Said the govt. really ruined a swell machine by making the builder use engines they had laying around. A turbine engine would have made the machine much lighter, allowing it to carry a lot more weight, and the engines the govt. made them use were noisier and vibrated a lot, and were almost 3 times heavier than the turbine engines. It was obvious to all of us that this particular pilot was still mad about not having the "right" engines in "his" chopper.
Well, the loading bay of the chopper was sure big enough to put some stuff into, alright. Just the opposite of that little personal chopper, eh? And then outside was yet another flying boat waiting to be worked on. There was a sign in the lobby, and the tour guide also mentioned they needed seamstresses to build upholstery for their stuff. Remember, this is all done by volunteers. Incredible.
There were a bunch of planes outside that had been flown in and were waiting to be displayed, and then the one on the pedestal just outside the main entrance to the museum.
Talk about a clean floor! If restaurants could manage to get theirs as clean as this, we'd eat out more often without worrying about the kitchen conditions! And a shot across the place from the mezzanine, showing both fixed wing and helicopters hanging from the ceiling.
Every plane in here has a history, and often the guides actually flew the plane in here or one just like it. Tremendous history, and these guys made it seem very alive and real for us.
And this is the plane that our President, George W. Bush flew out to the aircraft carrier and landed on it. And I suppose you can imagine our loyalty to our current Commander and Chief.
The Blue Angels fly both the blue planes and the yellow ones. All trainees at Pensacola start out flying the yellow ones. This bi-plane is from an earlier era, as is the blue ones hanging from the ceiling. The trainees fly yellow planes so the more experienced pilots can avoid them!
And how'd I get these shots? Well, in the one on the right you can see my knee. That's right, there were a bunch of cockpits open to the public. Some trainers (cockpits that never were actually in a plane, just built for practice) and some actual cockpits, cut out and put here for our benefit.
And then I finally got my turn after standing in line with the other kids. I'm sitting a bit tall because there's a cushion under me that I didn't remove before sitting down. There actually were some kids younger (and smaller) than me getting their picture taken. The fellows who were right in front of me were my senior by at least 10-15 years. Took one fellow longer to climb in and climb out than he spent sitting there. Made me grin and wonder if maybe he'd been a pilot. His grin was huge when he sat there.