I have to say this is the most impressive air museum I have ever seen and if you decide to visit, wear some comfy shoes, carry extra memory for the camera, and plan on spending the entire day. And another thing, It's free.
When I said plan on the entire day I mean it. It is massive and there are other displays beyond airplanes. There are also information videos and movies that show airplanes and pilots in action.
Each static display looks like a work of art. You can tell that some very dedicated people spent a lot of time working metal, polishing aluminum, and building the perfection that is on exhibit there.
The photo on the right is of the venerable PBY or known as the Catalina. This Naval patrol airplane spent hundreds of thousands of hours lumbering in the sky and around the clouds searching for enemy vessels from Europe to the Philippines.
Designed by Isaac Laddon it first flew in March of 1935 and was enlisted in the US Navy, The Royal Air Force, The Royal Canadian Air Force, the Australian Air Force, and the US Army Air Force, A total of about 3300 were built and a handful are still flying today.
This airplane could only cruise at about 125 mph. but had a range of over 2500 miles depending upon winds and could stay aloft over 20 hours. That is amazing.
Stepping into this museum is stepping back in time. Although the artifacts are old they appear as it they just rolled out of the paint hanger at the manufacturer with the exception of a few dog eared examples such as this P-40 Warhawk. Now that is what I recall it as being, but this airplane flew for a number of different countries and may have had a separate designation, but the shark mouth is distinctive to this airplane alone.
Although I didn't capture them all, in this photo to the right there is an entire formation of A-4 Shyhawks that made up an entire Navy Blue Angles Flight team.
Appearing in a wing tip to wing tip formation it is an impressive sight to see a formation of airplanes suspended in flight.
There are WW1 displays and airplanes of that era. There is a section of small town Main Street USA as it was in the early part of the century with life as it appeared back then. There is a section of an aircraft carrier and trappings of life on board.
I know I have some readers who are across the pond and I wish to extend a favor to you. If you ever make it over here for a vacation or to visit relatives or friends work hard to get to Pensacola and The Nation Naval Air Museum, you will be amazed.
If you are in the Northern part of the USA, check out the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton Ohio. again, this would be an all day affair because there is so much to take in. For Pilots, or aviation lovers Pensacola and Dayton are two destinations one must see at least once and of course, we can't forget the EAA Fly in at Oshkosh Wisconsin each year though this is more of a gathering of general aviation enthusiasts.
The United States is huge. I have spent many hours in small planes bouncing through the heat thermals in summer and crossing hundreds of miles of snow covered and beautiful landscape in winter and it is easy to understand why aviation is so huge here. We can't hop a train and be in another country in a matter of an hour or two. Aviation was driven by necessity and a free spirit to expand ones imagination into reality.
Pilots are few. In the USA today there are 618,660 total licensed pilots as opposed to 827,000 in 1979 when all the Viet Nam era pilots emerged. 618,660 is but a fraction of the population and is even less in foreign countries where governments and ill advised politicians have made flying an unnecessarily expensive proposition.
But, you can get the ground work done with little expense, a PC, some software, a Joy Stick, and a passion to fly.
