At least not directly.
My older brother and our father had, apparently, been talking about going to the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for some time, and given that Michael had already been there when he was in Cleveland for a month for work, he really wanted us all to go back with him.
The schedules all fell together right for all parties involved, so we decided to go. And while mom didn't go, she did get a break from taking care of dad, so it was, in a way, an indirect Mother's Day 'gift' to her.
We left the St. Louis area Thursday night, after Michael and Charles got off work. We left kinda late, but arrived none the less, and got all checked in and settled. The hotel, while very nice, has this little bitty sign right next to it's really hard to see at night driveway. We each got a bed, given that it was a suite w/a sofa/sleeper, 2 queens, and Michael brought his Aerobed. We woke up a little late on Friday, but still made it to the Air Force Museum in time for our scheduled tour of the Restoration Hanger, where they are working on several projects, including the World War II Memphis Belle. Our tour guide, while stern, was very nice, and had a lot of information about the stuff going in the hanger. It was really neat, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
After that, we went back onto the base, and went into the Research and Presidential Hangers, where I pretty much lost my shit. You see, growing up I was an Air Force brat, and very big into the planes and all that, so was my best friend since first grade, and his brothers. I totally, for lack of a better term, geeked out in the Research Hanger. At one point, I was standing under the left wing of a YF-12B, a predecessor to the SR-71, frantically trying to call my friend and boast about where I was at, but alas, I could not get any signal. I had to step out from under the wing to complete the call, whereupon our mutual geekery commenced. They also have an X-29, which is unique in that the wings sweep forward from the tail, instead of out, or back, as in a traditional aircraft. I had so much fun in that part of the museum.
In the Presidential Hanger were all sorts of aircraft that used to carry the President, including Kennedy's & Johnson's plane, as in, the one Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on after that tragic day in Dallas. It was also one of the 4 Presidential aircraft that you could walk through, and the only one I walked through. It was very eery to be standing in the spot where Johnson was sworn in, looking at a copy of the most well known picture of the event.
Saturday, instead of going back to the Air Force Museum, we 'surprised' dad by driving to Canton, Ohio, where the National Football Hall of Fame is located, and toured it. There are no tour guides, it's all, proceed at your own pace, but there is a lot of stuff there, particularly in the wing devoted to the beginnings of Pro Football. One of the neatest things we saw was a replica of the largest Super Bowl ring ever crafted, a size 23, for the "Refrigerator" Perry of the Chicago Bears. That is one huge freaking ring. We got pictures of all stuff Washington Redskins, being that we're all die-hard fans, and even managed to pick up some Redskins merchandise from the Hall of Fame store. The staff kept trying to get us to come back for the induction ceremony on August 2, since the Redskins have the Hall of Fame game, and Art Monk and Darrell Green are both being inducted, but I really don't know if the schedules will work out to allow that, but it'd be really cool.
Sunday found us back at the Air Force Museum to tour the actual museum itself, and like the Football Hall of Fame, this was self guided.
Let me just say this - That place is H.U.G.E. Given what it holds, full sized aircraft, it has to be, but still - freaking huge. They have it all broken into eras, The beginnings of flight and WWI in one building, WWII and some of Korea and Vietnam in another, all the Cold War Era stuff in it's own building, and then a final building housing objects from various Space Programs, as well as several, standing, ICBMs - that's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The amount of 'potential' destruction in just that last building almost boggled your mind. They also had several inert nuclear bombs on display, including a "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" (bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima), and they also had a "Daisy Cutter" on display next to an AC-130 Spectre Gunship. The "Daisy Cutter" is/was the largest non-nuclear bomb ever created. It's a fuel-air bomb, and had to be pushed out the back of a cargo aircraft, typically a C-130, to be deployed. It was primarily used in the Vietnam war to clear Landing Zones for the helicopters.
I suspect this last day was where the bulk of my picture taking took place, including multiple pictures of some of my favorite aircraft: the P-38 Lightning from WWII, an A-10 Warthog, several of myself and Charles sitting in the cockpit of an F-4 Phanthom, which is crazy tight and very full of knobs, switches, dials, and displays. I was also too short to reach the pedals, and Charles could just a barely reach them. LOL I took a lot of the Global Hawk unmanned drone, mostly because I was astounded at how big it is. Not only is the fuselage really large, but the wingspan is enormous. We also got a picture taken of all of us standing in front of a big cargo aircraft, I think that one is on Michael's camera. It's significant because all four of us are in it, but also because that is the type of aircraft upon which my dad made a 50 hour flight from the States to Vietnam, with stops in Guam and the Philippines, if I recall correctly, and he did the whole flight in one of those cargo-net style 'jump' seats. Good times.
Eventually, it was time to go home, and along the way, we played the variation of Six Degrees we'd been playing all weekend, plus some 20 Questions. Our Six Degrees is the same premise, except, instead of linking to Kevin Bacon, you link two actors/actresses, via movies, to each other, and you can't/are not supposed to use, Kevin Bacon as a conduit. We stopped at Blue Springs in Highland for some Foot-High Pie, Coconut Creme and Lemon Meringue, and a catfish dinner for mom, and then we were home.
Road trip done.
Weekend thoroughly enjoyed by all.
The schedules all fell together right for all parties involved, so we decided to go. And while mom didn't go, she did get a break from taking care of dad, so it was, in a way, an indirect Mother's Day 'gift' to her.
We left the St. Louis area Thursday night, after Michael and Charles got off work. We left kinda late, but arrived none the less, and got all checked in and settled. The hotel, while very nice, has this little bitty sign right next to it's really hard to see at night driveway. We each got a bed, given that it was a suite w/a sofa/sleeper, 2 queens, and Michael brought his Aerobed. We woke up a little late on Friday, but still made it to the Air Force Museum in time for our scheduled tour of the Restoration Hanger, where they are working on several projects, including the World War II Memphis Belle. Our tour guide, while stern, was very nice, and had a lot of information about the stuff going in the hanger. It was really neat, and we all enjoyed ourselves.
After that, we went back onto the base, and went into the Research and Presidential Hangers, where I pretty much lost my shit. You see, growing up I was an Air Force brat, and very big into the planes and all that, so was my best friend since first grade, and his brothers. I totally, for lack of a better term, geeked out in the Research Hanger. At one point, I was standing under the left wing of a YF-12B, a predecessor to the SR-71, frantically trying to call my friend and boast about where I was at, but alas, I could not get any signal. I had to step out from under the wing to complete the call, whereupon our mutual geekery commenced. They also have an X-29, which is unique in that the wings sweep forward from the tail, instead of out, or back, as in a traditional aircraft. I had so much fun in that part of the museum.
In the Presidential Hanger were all sorts of aircraft that used to carry the President, including Kennedy's & Johnson's plane, as in, the one Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on after that tragic day in Dallas. It was also one of the 4 Presidential aircraft that you could walk through, and the only one I walked through. It was very eery to be standing in the spot where Johnson was sworn in, looking at a copy of the most well known picture of the event.
Saturday, instead of going back to the Air Force Museum, we 'surprised' dad by driving to Canton, Ohio, where the National Football Hall of Fame is located, and toured it. There are no tour guides, it's all, proceed at your own pace, but there is a lot of stuff there, particularly in the wing devoted to the beginnings of Pro Football. One of the neatest things we saw was a replica of the largest Super Bowl ring ever crafted, a size 23, for the "Refrigerator" Perry of the Chicago Bears. That is one huge freaking ring. We got pictures of all stuff Washington Redskins, being that we're all die-hard fans, and even managed to pick up some Redskins merchandise from the Hall of Fame store. The staff kept trying to get us to come back for the induction ceremony on August 2, since the Redskins have the Hall of Fame game, and Art Monk and Darrell Green are both being inducted, but I really don't know if the schedules will work out to allow that, but it'd be really cool.
Sunday found us back at the Air Force Museum to tour the actual museum itself, and like the Football Hall of Fame, this was self guided.
Let me just say this - That place is H.U.G.E. Given what it holds, full sized aircraft, it has to be, but still - freaking huge. They have it all broken into eras, The beginnings of flight and WWI in one building, WWII and some of Korea and Vietnam in another, all the Cold War Era stuff in it's own building, and then a final building housing objects from various Space Programs, as well as several, standing, ICBMs - that's Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. The amount of 'potential' destruction in just that last building almost boggled your mind. They also had several inert nuclear bombs on display, including a "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" (bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima), and they also had a "Daisy Cutter" on display next to an AC-130 Spectre Gunship. The "Daisy Cutter" is/was the largest non-nuclear bomb ever created. It's a fuel-air bomb, and had to be pushed out the back of a cargo aircraft, typically a C-130, to be deployed. It was primarily used in the Vietnam war to clear Landing Zones for the helicopters.
I suspect this last day was where the bulk of my picture taking took place, including multiple pictures of some of my favorite aircraft: the P-38 Lightning from WWII, an A-10 Warthog, several of myself and Charles sitting in the cockpit of an F-4 Phanthom, which is crazy tight and very full of knobs, switches, dials, and displays. I was also too short to reach the pedals, and Charles could just a barely reach them. LOL I took a lot of the Global Hawk unmanned drone, mostly because I was astounded at how big it is. Not only is the fuselage really large, but the wingspan is enormous. We also got a picture taken of all of us standing in front of a big cargo aircraft, I think that one is on Michael's camera. It's significant because all four of us are in it, but also because that is the type of aircraft upon which my dad made a 50 hour flight from the States to Vietnam, with stops in Guam and the Philippines, if I recall correctly, and he did the whole flight in one of those cargo-net style 'jump' seats. Good times.
Eventually, it was time to go home, and along the way, we played the variation of Six Degrees we'd been playing all weekend, plus some 20 Questions. Our Six Degrees is the same premise, except, instead of linking to Kevin Bacon, you link two actors/actresses, via movies, to each other, and you can't/are not supposed to use, Kevin Bacon as a conduit. We stopped at Blue Springs in Highland for some Foot-High Pie, Coconut Creme and Lemon Meringue, and a catfish dinner for mom, and then we were home.
Road trip done.
Weekend thoroughly enjoyed by all.
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erekose- Darksyded
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And I thought the museum at Warner Robbins was cool. That place sounds phenomenal. I must go there some day as I too am old fighter plane geek. Let's face it, I've always been a geek of some kind.
You can ask my brother how much I freaked at the Warner Robbins museum when I saw they had a MiG! I can't remember if it was a MiG 15 or 17, as they look very similar. But then again, you've probably seen all that's there. lol
A couple posts down is the link to my Flickr stream.
Ah..here it is too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/erekose76
Go through it at your leisure.
Oh, and to stoke your geekeryness, in the Restoration Hanger, they had an Iraqi Mig-25 Foxbat. They had one outside the hanger as well, but we weren't allowed to photograph it. The one outside was all put together and painted. They had several Soviet aircraft in the actual Museum, encompassing each era, to include the Mig-29 Fulcrum.
If you get up to the Air Force Museum, I definitely suggest spending a whole weekend, even with that you'll leave feeling you've missed stuff.
Dude, one of the pics I took is of an experimental fighter - it's essentially two P-51s stuck together. My little brother is standing at the nose of one of them, in the picture. It's just crazy!
Patriot though I am, I've always been fascinated by Soviet aircraft. Don't get me wrong, I geek out over all of them, but having grown up during that Cold War era, seeing a MiG is almost like getting to touch the untouchable.
I've just added that place to my bucket list. lol