It was a sunny day and we decided to get some sightseeing in. Near our winter home is the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola, FL. Among other things, Pensacola NAS serves as home to the Navy's precision flight team, the Blue Angels. Later next month, they will have open practice sessions where the public can come and watch them practice and perform their aerial acrobatics. The NAS is also the location for the National Naval Aviation Museum. This museum houses around 175 vintage aircraft that have served the Navy over the years. The museum is housed in two very large buildings built totally from private funds! Admission is free but donations are gladly accepted. Stepping into this museum is like visiting a time capsule chock full of Naval aviation history. They recommend that you take two full days to see everything and I'm here to testify, that is probably not enough time. I was told that all of the aircraft were the real thing except for one re-creation. That many actual aircraft under one roof is nothing short of remarkable.
There is "Marine 1", the helicopter that flew during the Nixon and Ford presidencies. You can go inside and get up close and personal with history.
This one fascinated me. During WWII, three sailors (pilot and crew) crashed in the Pacific and floated for 34 days in the raft shown above. They drifted over 5,000 miles and finally came ashore on a small island and were rescued. Their story was the subject of a book and makes for some interesting reading.
Pictures don't do this aircraft justice! You can see the size of the people milling around it as a scale. It is huge!! It is the NC-4 Flying Boat that completed the first crossing of the Atlantic by air.
The larger aircraft in this picture has the distinction of being the only aircraft in the air after the attacks on Sept 11, when all of the flights over the country were ordered grounded. This aircraft was filled with supplies and firefighters and shuttled to New York.
Want to know why it takes more than two days to see everything?? This is a small portion of the WW II section. Count the airplanes in this photo!
Now Barb was a trooper and went to the museum with me and, admittedly, the hardware doesn't really mean all that much to her. The thing that she found most meaningful was chatting with all of the volunteers in the museum. You see, there are over 400 of them and at any point in time you can easily see them wandering through the exhibits. What makes it special is that these volunteers are veterans who actually flew many of the aircraft, or had service with the Navy during past wars. The stories they tell are utterly fascinating and spellbinding. We spent some time with a gentleman who was 91 years young! He shared his stories of his service in WW II in a classified project. He told us it was tough when his folks wrote to him, and about all he could say was that he was doing well. We could easily spend several days just going around and talking to the volunteers and never look at an exhibit. That's what distinguishes this museum from any other one that we have visited.
More photos that we took at the museum can be seen by using this link. Just click on the link then double click on any photo to see a bigger view: Museum Photos
