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My favorite bird. OAFS Photo |
The Spitfire in the photo (avec votre Humble Scribe) has an interesting history. She flew 100 combat missions in WWII, transferred to Italian service, eventually she went to the Israelis. You can read about her here.
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My other favorite bird. OAFS Photo |
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Beautiful PBY, the tarp is to keep the bird shit off, seriously.. OAFS Photo |
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As we parked the car and got out, this beauty flew over. She landed, took off again, then landed once more. She sounded wonderful. OAFS Photo |
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Polikarpov Po-2. "Flew" against one of these in Il-2 Sturmovik, I was in an Me-109. Damned things are hard to shoot down. Very slow, very maneuverable. OAFS Photo |
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The Hurricane, the workhorse of the Battle of Britain. OAFS Photo |
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Was very pleased to see this addition to the Museum's collection. The De Havilland Mosquito, aka "The Wooden Wonder." OAFS Photo |
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Another view of the Mossie. OAFS Photo |
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Can't pass up a photo of "Wild Cargo." Beautiful example of a B-25. OAFS Photo |
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Fokker Dr I, as flown by Werner Voss. OAFS Photo |
It was tough touring the WWI hangar, they have too many aircraft! (A problem everyone should have!) But unlike olden times, you can't wander around on your own. Seems some members of the idiot public have actually damaged aircraft in the past. Morons, they ruin things for everyone.
Didn't get to the "German" hangar as traveling with young'uns (one is almost four, his kid brother turned one back in January), can be tough, they get cranky after a bit, especially in the Virginia heat. So we left early.
Had some excellent BBQ at Pungo Boys BBQ, I highly recommend damned near everything. (We tried a lot of different things, brisket, pulled pork, sausage, baked beans, and potato salad. Try the mango mustard, really, it's incredible.)
Great day trip, the museum is about sixty miles from where we're staying. We stopped at the little town of Cape Charles on the way back to our place. Had ice cream, which was okay. (Tuttle picked a place that wasn't busy. Now we know why.) I had a milk shake which was fine, it's hard to mess one of those up, they did not.
Headed down to the beach when we got back, working on my sunburn I am. (I'm actually being really careful, though Wednesday morning I found a couple of spots I missed with the sun block, yes, they burn. I also seemed to have run afoul of some aquatic stinging thing. Might even be poison ivy from the woods, though I've stayed out of those. Not a jellyfish, but it's red and it itches. Calamine lotion works just fine. Oh well, sometimes you gotta pay for a good time.)
Sarge, out.
Muy bueno Sarge, muy bueno! Mossie packed the punch, didn't it? They give an explanation of why the plastic was on the prop blades? Biting insects have been bad here this spring, probably the very wet spring we've had........ :(
ReplyDeleteNo idea about the plastic, didn't ask. Place was busier than I've ever seen it. Of course, last time I was there was 12 years ago!
DeleteA big radial engine sure does sound good!
ReplyDeleteWhy yes, yes it does. 😎
Delete(slurping first sip of morning coffee while scrolling apprevuatively through lovely photos)
ReplyDeleteThe Mule aka Кукурузник (Kukueuznik), aka Wheatcutter (See also Nikki Kruchev forthenickname) was almost impossible to shoot down not just because of low speed and size, but also because unless you could quite literally blow it apart, the only vulnerable parts were the pilot and the tiny engine. I think a Ford F250 has a more complicated instrument panel. https://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Polikarpov-Po-2/1113077/L
I saw a quote from a German soldier about them, something like, "Darned things will sneak up on you while you're taking a leak." A very effective little aircraft.
I've seen that quote. Never did manage to shoot one down.
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. Excellent museum there. Makes one wonder what happened to the British aircraft industry. Sopwith Camels, Mozzies, Spitfires, the first jet transport (DH Comet), and now? My first trip in a scheduled airliner was in a (Hunting) BAC 1-11, with Screaming Mimi Rolls Royce low bypass fans. I guess in a way the Brits are still in the game with Airbus Industrie and Rolls Royce, but it's not the same as DeHavilland, Sopwith, BAC, English Electric...
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the Royal Navy, what happened to the Empire? All gone, just a memory these days. We seem to be going down a similar path.
DeleteAs a British person I sometimes wonder what happened. Post WW2 there were just too many aircraft companies operating in the UK. Many were genuinely innovative but as someone who was involved at the time said the companies needed to be brought together, a bit of banging together of heads done and about three or four companies should have emerged. There were some truly great aircraft produced at the time for example the English Electric Canberra - I think NASA still fly them as the Martin RB57. There were also some true clunkers and dead ends.
DeleteThe Mossie was one of the best examples of the thought and pragmatism that went into British aircraft design, made to be built out of readily available materials it was nevertheless one the best aircraft of WW2 and has been described as the first multi role combat aircraft. I like the 'Tsetse' version that was built to carry the 57MM gun as a U boat killer.
The P51D is still one of my favourite piston engined aircraft of WW2. To me it has a no nonsense look about it. I also love the big American radial engined planes, such as the P47, Corsair and Hellcat. They just have a no frills does what it says on the tin attitude about them. The Spitfire, in its various marks is like the 14 year old you see playing rugby. It starts off skinny and agile, ten years later it has put on a lot of weight (all muscle) is faster and packs a hell of a punch.
If you can find it there is a series of two documentaries called 'Jet, when Britain Ruled the Skies'. It shows the variety of aircraft that were produced as well as some truly eye opening flying, the Vulcan being slow rolled at Farnborough air show is my favourite.
Retired
I've seen that footage of the Vulcan. Impressive!
DeleteI wish I had known/made it over to that Museum while I was in the 5 sided insane asylum. Would have loved to have visited and might still be there (in the museum).
ReplyDeleteAs to favorites, gotta be the P-51. Liked quite a few others (Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito...) But the P-51 ENABLED so many things that couldn't be done until it's arrival. I'm not saying it won WWII, but it sure had a big hand in making it possible to win.
Just sayin' (or alternatively, YMMV!)
juvat
When the P-51 arrived, the Luftwaffe was doomed. Can't win a war without airpower.
DeleteWow Sarge! Thank you for sharing the pictures! This is super cool.
ReplyDelete(The Mosquito. One of the airplane models I actually recall the name of that I built.)
This museum is special.
DeleteGreat pictures of some great planes!
ReplyDeleteThere were so many I left out, it's an awesome museum.
DeleteThe Polikarpov Po-2; is that the one that used to be called "the sewing machine" due to the sound of its engine?
ReplyDeleteThat's the one!
DeleteThanks for the virtual visit to a place I NEED to get to.
ReplyDeleteI recall reading about the B-25 "Wild Cargo" several years ago. Her history is a good example of how a select few airframes end up in museums and private collections, while nearly all the rest were scrapped and recycled.
B-25J serial number 44-30129 was built by North American Aviation in Kansas City, MO and delivered 19 December 1944.
After 13 years bouncing around the USAF she ended up at the boneyard at Davis Monthan for "storage" and four months later was sold as surplus in April 1958. She went thru eight civilian owners in the next 5 years, ending up in the business of hauling snakes and alligators for an animal farm, where "WILD CARGO" was painted on the nose. In this role, she had an engine failure and crash landed outside Cincinnati in February 1963. About a year and a half later she was bought by an eccentric aircraft hoarder/collector in the Cleveland, Ohio area, Walter Soplata, who deserves praise for saving many historic aircraft from scrapping and eventual restoration by others.
After 26 years in Cleveland, she was sold to a guy in Georgia, in 1990 and Gerald Yagen from Suffolk, Virginia purchased this B-25 in 1997. Yagen is a wealthy collector of WW2 warbirds (among other things) who was one of the founders and benefactors of the Military Aviation Museum. A lengthy restoration by The Fighter Factory (the restoration and maintenance side of the Military Aviation Museum) returned Wild Cargo to full airworthiness in 2008.
It is interesting that the "Wild Cargo" name was retained, and during restopration a fantasy image of some scantily clad babe in a bamboo cage with with a leopard and a snake was added as nose art on the port side, but not the starboard.
Here is a site with a good history of the aircraft and its military assignments and rapid changes in civilian ownership, with a couple of photos. https://b-25history.org/aircraft/4430129.htm
More photos, but less history here:
https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=32379
Collectors are historians who preserve tangible artifacts which bring history to life, compatriots to authors who preserve history with words and images.
John Blackshoe
Some great background on that awesome warbird, thanks JB!
DeleteMaybe I could donate a BB-gun to the museum so they could take the plastic off the props and the tarp of that Cat. I doubt bird strikes from them falling from the rafters would do any damage. Shame they can't be seen in their full glory.
ReplyDeleteYou can see them when they fly. I think all but one or two are flyable and they do exercise them.
DeleteI still think a little target practice could solve the problem!
DeleteIt's your predatory instincts bubbling to the surface.
DeleteThe fact that my Mustang got absolutely bombed yesterday might have something to do with it!
DeleteOuch!
DeleteOne of the few drawbacks to working on the bay!
DeleteThe gulls!
DeleteHave you ever hit Kermit Weeks' "Fantasy of Flight Museum"?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fantasyofflight.com/collection/
They no longer have the "Plane crashed in a tree" but instead have a static aircraft display just north of I-4 on their property.
I've heard of it, never been there. Looks awesome.
DeleteKingsbury, Tx (just E. of Sguin and N.of I-10 has a WWI air museum.
ReplyDeleteOne thing this Seabee noticed (because he has some Airedale friends) was the lack of not only safety wire, but any kind of washers on flyable planes.
I wonder how many fliers were lost until someone said, "maybe we should do something to stop those nuts from coming off in mid-air".
Interesting, never saw that working on the Phantom.
DeleteNo Pungo pics? If you are gonna tease with a list of the gustatory delights that were consumed it would seem there could be at least one pic of brisket or pulled pork or something. :)
ReplyDeleteSorry, gobbled it down as soon as it hit the table.
DeleteThanks for the tour.
ReplyDeleteGlad to oblige!
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