DC has its perks

Readers of this blog (if there are any left) shouldn't today's topic too surprising. I recently finished up my PhD and moved to the DC area. I miss NYC fiercely but my new digs do have their perks. For example:

Tuesday morning I managed to catch a glimpse of something that I've loved since I was a kid, the Space Shuttle. This is actually a photo from it's second pass by where I was watching as is the following shot.

While it was pretty great to see it as close as it was that second time, the first time was even better. For those of you who might be in NYC, try to be on a rooftop this Monday with your cameras out as the Enterprise is headed your way. For now, enjoy my favorite shot from the first flyby.

Best Ripping Off of a Friend's Post

Before you read this, you should go over to Brigham's blog and read this, because I'm going to piggyback on his experience to share some of my experience at the fantastic Udvar-Hazy center in Virginia. If you've been following this blog, you'll notice that I've already shown you one of my favorite pics from my trip there. You'll also know that I'm an aviation nut. So, let me show you a few more.

So, first of all, they've got a Space Shuttle. I cannot tell you how excited that made me. I really could have just spent my whole time there, but there was too much to see, including this guy who decided to spacewalk in an Earth gravity environment. He's been up there for a while, and I don't think he'd going anywhere anytime soon.

This is one that I'd have missed if I hadn't taken the tour. So you know how the Air Force flies the president around in a plane but the Marines fly him around in a helicopter? I'd always wondered how that arrangement came about. Well, it's because of that helicopter in the middle. As it turns out, President Eisenhower was kind of an important guy when it comes to the history of presidential air travel. He ushered it in to the jet age (on a plane that I've been in many times). He was around when they first started using the call sign "Air Force Once" for presidential flights. And he was also approached by the Air Force about using this helicopter for shorter trips. He took a test flight and reported that the 5-seat helicopter was a bit too small for his needs (since the minimum complement of 1 pilot, 1 co-pilot, 1 secret service agent and 1 president only left 1 seat free). When the Marines heard the news, they approached the President with a "why don't you take a look at one of our Sikorskys" and the rest is history. The Marines simply had a bigger helicopter. Kind of funny how stuff like this works out.

One of Brigham's pics is of a big yellow and red Boeing plane. When I realized what this plane was, and that I'd been hearing stories about it (well, really only the one) my whole life, I got really excited. I could tell you the story, but you might as well hear it from the source, so check out this clip before you read on:

The story goes that Boeing sold a lot of 707s that day. This was the first commercial jet airliner and one of the best selling planes ever and ended up being a huge payoff for the Boeing company (who had basically bet the company on the success of this plane). Growing up as a kid in Seattle, it seemed impossible to meet someone who wasn't connected to Boeing in some way and without this plane the history of the region would be very different. So, I hope you understand why I geeked out when I saw the plane there.

There's so many other things to see at the Udvar-Hazy center, and maybe I'll put some more pics up later, but in the meantime, if you can go, you should go. Before I sign off, I'm going to rip off a bit of another one of Brigham's posts and show you one of my favorite pictures from Capitol Hill Books:

Real attention to detail at that store.

Blackbird

Hey, it's planes again! Big surprise, I know. This time it's an SR-71 that's currently housed at the Udvar-Hazy center just outside of Washington, D.C. If you go, make sure to take the tour, it's worth it. Also, there's a space shuttle there, which is about as amazing as it gets.

This one goes out to Darren, who is a big fan of butt shots.

Concorde

I wish I could have flown on one of these. Still, being able to board it, even in retirement, is pretty cool.

Biplanes

It's really hard to imagine these being effective in war time, but we really owe a lot to the early aviators.

O'Riley's Daughter

More Museum of Flight pics (don't worry, they'll keep coming for a while). This time of a Curtiss P-40, looking mighty fearsome.

Museum Phone

One of my favorite parts of the Museum of Flight is the Air Force One that they have parked there. You can go inside and see all kinds of crazy JFK/Johnson era stuff, including this phone which was used by the secretary to whomever was flying at the time. This particular plane has quite an interesting history, being the one flown by LBJ to Dallas (though he returned on another), used by Nikita Khrushcev to tour the US, and Nixon to tour China. It was the primary Air Force One from 1959-1962, but remained in the fleet until 1996.

Allies

I'm trying to take more photos and get this site going again. I thought I'd start with some from one of my favorite places, the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Above: Russian Yak-9 Below: P-51D Mustang

I Love Planes

Seattle is the birthplace of Boeing, and growing up in Seattle means you probably know someone who works for them. I certainly did. Well, one of the great benefits of living around Boeing is that the Museum of Flight is just down the road at Boeing Field. While at home for Christmas, my Dad and I took a trip there and I took some photos. I've been meaning to post them for awhile, so without any further ado, here they are!

When we got there, the first thing we did was go across the street to see some of the coolest planes that they have. Up first is the Concorde.
Sorry about not getting the plane all in one shot, but the Concorde is huge! Unlike most planes you can stand under it because it has a ground clearance of at least 8 feet. And, when you are under there, you realize how much this plane is just one big wing. Once you get inside (sorry, no pics as my camera was low on batteries and there was a lot more to see) you realize how small the plane is. What?! Yeah, just check out the windows in the shot above. They are tiny. Luckily the plane stretches when it reaches cruising speed, but not that much... What a cool plane. Too bad I couldn't have flown on one.

After the Concorde, we went on to something that I was really looking forward to, Air Force One.That's my dad standing outside of SAM-970, which was the first jet powered Air Force One. SAM-970 is a Boeing 707-120 and was delivered to Pres. Eisenhower in 1959. Two others (SAM-971 and SAM-972) were also recieved by Eisenhower and I assume shared the duty as AF One, but since it has the earlier registration number, I'm saying (as does the Museum of Flight) that it was the first. It wasn't the main Air Force One for long and was replaced in 1962 by a long range 707 (SAM-26000), which is "officially" the first jet powered AF One, but why that is, who knows. After the 26000 became AF One, the 970 was kept to fly the VP around (as Air Force Two) and to fly VIP's like when Nikita Khrushchev toured the USA. This was also the plane that LBJ flew to Dallas in (he would return on the 26000 for obvious reasons) and the plane that Nixon took to China. Here's a map of some of the other trips that it took:
I know this is going to sound pretty lame, but it was cool to be on a plane that so many historic figures had been on. Interesting note, the back of the plane is much like first class but instead of overhead compartments, there are pull-down sleeping bunks. Toward the front there is a conference room
and further up is the President's office
If you look at the lower right hand corner of the photo, you can see some interesting Presidential knick-knacks.
Cool, JFK's pipe rack and a presidential cup holder! Looks pretty high-tech. I can only imagine what W's cup holder is like. It probably fits a double gulp.

There are a few other planes at the "Airpark" including the first 747 and the first 737 ever produced, but no photos, so let's move on to the main museum specifically the Great Gallery. Here are some pictures of what that looks like as you walk in:


Pretty impressive, huh? Well we made the rounds and I'll show you a few of the highlights. First up was a replica of a Gee Bee, which was a racing plane.

Perhaps you remember this plane from a movie? Perhaps The Rocketeer? Well, if you do, you are right. I loved The Rocketeer when I was younger, so seeing this was kind of a treat.

Next we checked out this F-4C Phantom II. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
Next up was the Lockheed F-104C Starfighter, considered to be a "sports car" of airplanes (also known as a flying lawn dart because of its crash frequency):
Finishing up our circle around the Great Gallery, I spotted this:
It's an RQ-3 Dark Star, an unmanned spy plane. It looks really crazy (you can see it in the first two shots of the Great Gallery). Apparently it has never flown a real mission, but according to Wikipedia (I know, I know...) it is now something of a "black project." Cool.

The highlight of the Great Gallery has to be the Blackbird. When I was a kid, this plane was one of the coolest.
If you are a real Blackbird buff, you'll notice that this one looks a little bit different than most. That's because it's not the SR-71 Blackbird that we all seem to know and love, but this one is actually the only surviving M-21 Blackbird. The story of the Blackbird is a complicated one involving the CIA and military, so I'll let you go to Wikipedia to learn more, but here are a few of the differences in a nutshell: The M-21 is lacking the second set of windows behind the cockpit and there is that weird missile-like thing at the back that the other Blackbirds lack. That missile-like thing is actually the D-21 drone ("D" for Daughter, making the "M" in M-21 stand for Mother). The D-21 is a ramjet powered spy drone that was meant to be launched from the back of the Blackbird mid-flight. Being unmanned, it was much more expendable than the M-21 and being smaller, it was stealthier. Once it took its photos, it would jettison its camera over the ocean (which would be caught mid-air by a US plane - pretty neat trick) and then self-destruct. It never really worked all that well (one test launch actually caused the crash of the other M-21) so it only was used on 4 missions (which, again, didn't work that well). Eventually spy satellites made the D-21 obsolete and the program was abandoned.

As my Dad and I left, we checked out some of the other planes on display outside - a Harrier (not pictured), this A-6E Intruder:
and one of my personal favorites, the F-14A. I'm still mourning Goose's death...

The last thing we saw before rolling out was this Fiat/Aeritalia G.91 Gina.

It looks pretty goofy sitting next to the F-14A (especially in those colors, but, hey, I'm not Italian). It was in use for about 35 years, so I guess it was a pretty good plane.

Well, there it is folks, my longest post ever. I hope it was worth it, because the Museum of Flight is pretty rad. To tell the truth, I hardly scratched the surface of what is there (I completely skipped the space section and the WWII fighter section). So, if you are ever in Seattle, go. It will be the best $10 you will spend (at a museum about planes).