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| Entrance to the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo, VA |
Okay, Yours Truly has been more or less off the grid for the better part of a week. Sure, I did a wee post on the Fourth of July (how could I not?) but that's pretty much it since last weekend.
Oh, I had big plans for posting while visiting the WSO and Little Bit down in Virginia Beach, but truth be told, my granddaughter has me wrapped around her little two-year old finger. Even more so than the Nuke and the WSO.
So rather than regale you all with what I was doing or perhaps entertaining you with my lame form of humor, I was paying more attention to family matters. It was hard not to.
After all the Nuke and the Bear drove all the way over from Memphis for to share the holiday with us. So there we were: myself, the Missus, the Nuke, the Bear, the WSO and Little Bit. We had a grand time but it was over all too quickly.
Amazing how four days seems like a lot until you're sitting in an airport wondering how it all went by so fast. But it did and it's off the banks of the Merrimack River tomorrow to once again earn my pay.
But while down south, down Dixie way, I had the opportunity to revisit one of the jewels in the Virginia Beach crown, for those so inclined. Which I was.
I'm speaking of the Military Aviation Museum in Pungo.
We went there two years ago at the insistence of Big Time and I've been itching to get back ever since. They have, drum roll please, one of the most interesting collection of military aircraft I've ever seen in such a small place. Well, small in terms of real estate but NOT small in terms of the work they do there.
For you see, the majority of their collection is, wait for it, FLYABLE!
Going around this museum you can't help but notice that most of the aircraft have drip pans underneath the engines. To catch the oil you see. Which tends to drip from the old girls sitting in the hangar awaiting their next flight. So without further adieu, it's time for some Old Timey Plane Pr0n!
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| Of course that's me, got myself another hat, in Honor of Lex |
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| Dual Purpose German 88mm in Afrika Korps Livery (Searchlight is extra, batteries not included) |
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| B-17 "Chuckie" |
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| B-25 "Wild Cargo" |
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| F4U Corsair |
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| FW-190 in the Maintenance Hangar |
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| Hurricane and Friends |
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| 3/4 Scale Nieuport With Insignia as used by Georges Guynemer |
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| P-51 Mustang (of course...) |
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| PBY-5A Catalina |
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| The "Peashooter" |
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Polikarpov I-16 "Rata"
(One of the docents pointed out that they have trouble finding pilots
with the stones to fly this baby. Sucker is an engine with wings!) |
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| SE-5A (Old AF Sarge's Favorite WWI Bird) |
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| Skyraider |
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| Spitfire in the Maintenance Hangar |
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| Fieseler Storch |
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| The Russians Are Coming (P-39 in the background, tail of a YAK-3 in the foreground) |
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| Fokker D-VII |
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| Fokker DR-1 |
Enjoy! I'll make sure to post more pics from Pungo soon!
Of course that's me, got myself another hat, in Honor of Lex
ReplyDeleteI WAS gonna snark about the hat, but I won't... for reasons cited. Then again, I don't have room to talk since I regularly wear USS Mason and USS Monterey ball caps. SN2 is good about providing me with Navy propaganda-wear.
But... on the subject at hand... that's a VERY impressive collection of warbirds. And great pics of 'em, too.
Yeah, saw the hat in the Oceana NEX and immediately it called out to me. Of course, by way of full disclosure, I consider myself to more of a Navy Dad now-a-days than an Air Force retiree. Tough to find me not wearing a Navy ball cap. (Unless I get the itch to wear the ball cap of my alma mater, Colorado State.) My kids also keep me well supplied with Navy propaganda-wear.
DeleteThe museum at Pungo is pretty awesome. Glad you liked the pics!
So... ummm... howcum yer nom de plume ain't "Navy Dad" or sumthin' like it? ;-)
DeleteI could consider myself in a lot o' different ways (and Navy Dad COULD be one) but it's hard for me to give up the ol' Blue Suit identification, even 27 years removed.
Probably why I've stuck with my Old AF Sarge nom de plume.
DeleteAlso I think "Navy Dad" was taken...