On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions. From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
This series was created by Alain Chamot (1971-2020).
Good morning everyone,
We have a treat today – wahoo!
Have a good and safe weekend, see you Monday.
Following up on Alain’s visit to the Udvar-Hazy Center, I thought I’d post some photos from our visit to this museum in Pensacola. We’ve been taking Snowbird Florida trips for six years now, and last year our destination was the Panhandle.
I’m an aviation buff, WWII piston planes especially. Every person we talked to around Pensacola said we had to visit this museum. They were right – there were more planes than I’ve ever seen in one place, from WWI to modern times … including a few I built as models as a kid.
There were WWI planes, Korean war jets, and a bunch of piston engine aircraft I’d never seen before that were designed too late for WWII and obsolete for Korea.
F4U Corsair
SBD Dauntless. This is one of the planes that were recovered from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where the Navy had established its carrier qualifications unit in Chicago, safe from German submarines. Every Navy pilot had to complete eight takeoffs and landings on a converted lake steamer. Planes that crashed or ditched sank to the bottom. 50 years later they started to be brought back up.
P-40 Tomahawk, painted in Flying Tiger colors.
Japanese Zero
NC4, the first plane to fly the Atlantic in 1919. This was one of the WW1 era planes. There was also a Fokker D7, Nieuport 28, and a Sopwith Camel.
There were at least a dozen carrier models, some of which had incredible detail, which several guys (I’m going to assume it’s guys) put in thousands of hours making. This is the Intrepid, which is now a museum in the Hudson on the west side of NYC. It’s also worth a visit.
This is the model of the Hornet. Along with its other accomplishments, it was probably most famous for launching the Doolittle Raid of 16 Army B-25s on Japan in April 1942. The model shows a few Grumman F4F Navy fighters. The stripes are where the B-25 pilots had to keep their wheels so that the inboard wing wouldn’t hit the island of the carrier — even though they were medium bombers they were huge in comparison.
Geminid
JPL
Fly me away.
p.a.
Thanks! Corsair just a beautiful design. History buffs: did it have a difficult shakedown before ok’ed for combat? Or pretty war-ready off the drawing board?
tokyokie
I’m like you, a big fan of piston-driven World War II aircraft (and flying boats of any vintage). So I’m putting National Aviation Museum on my list, which also include the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Base near Dayton, Ohio; the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s locations in D.C. and the Udvar-Hazy center near Dulles International; and the RAF museums in London and Cosford. (Both the Smithsonian and the RAF museums have their most famous holdings in the city, but a lot more room for the bombers and less-famous planes in the suburbs.)
raven
@Geminid: Did you see the pictures of Geronimo and his group?
raven
In 1996 my dad and step-mom met me in Destin for a fishing/sightseeing trip. The went to the museum and then on to the the USS Alabama. Apparently when you spend 4 years in the Pacific in WW2 you come to know a lot about most of the ships in the fleet because he had a vast knowledge of the Bama. When we looked at the USS Drum tied up next to her he said “that is the size of the Crosby, his destroyer”. After the war he graduated from Illinois and took a commission as an officer, what the call a “Mustang”. Thanks for these.
Geminid
@raven: don’t think I did. I saw a historical marker in NM that memorialized Tejuan, a woman who fought with Geronimo and died at an Army fort in Alabama. Maybe it was near Pensacola.
raven
Ft Pickens
raven
@Geminid:
129 years ago this week, just three days before the worldwide symbol of freedom — the Statue of Liberty — would be dedicated, the train that arrived in Pensacola from the desert plains of the western territories was carrying a notable passenger. He went by the name Geronimo, an Apache leader, who led his people’s defense of their homeland against the military might of the United States. Historians would later define his legacy as one of the most legendary warriors in American history.
raven
This is in the little museum at Ft Pickens.
Origuy
If you make it to the Inland Empire area east of LA, see if the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino is open. It’s at the Chino airport. There’s another branch near the Grand Canyon, but I haven’t been there. Between the two sites, they have more than 160 aircraft, many in working order.
Origuy
Just to add, at the link I posted you can see the whole collection of the Planes of Fame.
raven
@Origuy: That is one hell of a collection!
Geminid
@raven: I misremembered. The Apache woman warrior was Lozen. She fought with her brother Victorio, who called her “a shield to her people.” She surrendered with Geronimo in 1885 and was imprisoned at Mt. Vernon Barracks. She died of tuberculosis in 1889. Last spring I stopped at a historical marker in the Sacramento Mountains on the way from Tularosa to Roswell. It memorialized Lozen, and spoke of her shamanic powers. May be the saddest historical marker I’ve seen.
frosty
@Origuy: Planes of Fame is on my list. Also, the museum in Washingto with the collection of Paul Allen, Microsoft founder.
frosty
@p.a.: The only relevant fact I know about the Corsair was that the Navy decided it wasn’t suitable for carriers, so they gave it to the Marines. Like Pappy Boyle and his Black Sheep who used it effectively on Guadalcanal.
raven
@frosty:
Boyington
J R in WV
Out in Arizona there is a very popular Tee shirt, with 4 Apache warriors on the front, with the caption “Fighting Foreign Terrorists Since 1492“… probably not that popular with RWNJs who hate Native Americans nearly as much (or even more than) they hate “illegal immigrants” — but screw those guys anyway.
Ruckus
Been going to an airshow at the Chino airport for a number of years, every May. Not this year of course. A lot of WWII stuff some of it actually flying. I also went to Oshkosh for the EAA fly in back in 99. Flew in the EAA B17. That was a day. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid, before the term came about. Planned my future around being an AF pilot to be in the right place at the right time to become that astronaut. That worked out well…….
Mike in NC
@Ruckus: Flew twice in ‘Aluminum Overcast’ and it was free. Can’t beat that deal with a stick.
Going to Pensacola and New Orleans to see the museums when things get back to normal.
matt regan
@p.a.: Worked fine off of the ground from the beginning (w/Marine pilots–see Baa Baa Black Sheep— but wasn’t approved for carrier operations until very late–strength of landing gear problems.
stinger
Not intrinsically interested in aircraft, but all you guys with your great photos and historical knowledge make this a fascinating post — thanks, frosty and all!
frosty
@raven: oops! I should have looked it up.