A few days ago, I took my mom, one of my sisters and her family to the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. I'm rather embarrassed to admit this, but I've lived in this area for nearly 11 years and this was my first visit!More information can be found by logging on to the museum website:
http://www.museumofflight.org/visit
As a "Cold Warrior" (one who served during the Cold War), I spent most of my time lingering around the Soviet-built aircraft.
Although there was plenty of other aircraft and even unmanned weapons starting with this...
...the Vergeltungswaffe-1, or V-1 "Buzz Bomb":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bombAdvancing into the chilly realm of the Cold War, is the revolutionary Mikoyan-Gurevich-15 (MiG-15):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17Finally, the "latest" Soviet fighter on display is the MiG-21:
I actually like this aircraft. In all the air-to-air combat wargames I played, I always did well "flying" this aircraft.Apparently lots of other folks liked the real aircraft too. According to most sources the MiG-21 was the most produced supersonic aircraft in history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21
As a former Ground Forward Attack Controller (GFAC), I was hoping there would be a lot of aircraft I worked with. I was somewhat miffed to only find one--the AV-8 Harrier:
As a former Ground Forward Attack Controller (GFAC), I was hoping there would be a lot of aircraft I worked with. I was somewhat miffed to only find one--the AV-8 Harrier:
Despite the shortage of US & allied Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft the museum is definitely worth several visits. More than one visit is required because you can't see everything in a day!
You can also spend a lot of time--and money--in the gift shop. I bought a Paul A. Lanquist ("PAL") poster of a flight of P-51 knocking out a German Tiger Tank:
PAL is a Pacific Northwest artist noted for his nature scenes, but he occasionally delves into aviation history:
Just as I was exiting the gift shop I spotted a license plate frame I had to have. It read:
TOO CLOSE FOR MISSILES----SWITCHING TO GUNS
I put it on my Jeep as soon as we got home.
No comments:
Post a Comment