National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 198 - October 15,. 2017

After breakfast, Bob first took us to West Marine to replace one of our Camfrano fans that had failed. We probably could have had it replaced for free if we had returned the failed fan, but we didn't bring it, so we bought a new one. We will see if we can return ithe original fan at some other West Marine store, or possibly back in Bellingham after we get home! Then we were off for our main adventure of the day, the National Museum of Naval Aviation!

National Museum of Naval Aviation

Bob and Patty under fighter plane exhibit directly inside front door

This is a HUGE Museum!   We ended up spending most of the day there! I did not even try to photograph all the different types of aircraft. We toured the big main building with two floors, a separate building housing mostly Coast Guard aircraft of all types, and the "flight line," which are all types of aircraft stored outside, many of which had great stories. More than once, someone taking the tour would emotionally tell the tour guide that he had flown on the plane fifty years ago and didn't think it was still in existence!

We had a half hour talk by Dr. Ruth Eng, a volunteer, about a number of the naval aircraft from the interwar period between WWI and WWII.  She educated us on the meaning of the numbers and letters on the fuselage, which indicated the purpose of the plane, its place in a series and its manufacturer. One plane we saw was a Boeing biwing plane that was found in Seattle when excavation was being done for a school!  

Dr. Ruth Eng explaining planes from the period between WWI and WWII

We watched a video about NC-4, the first plane to fly across the Atlantic.  In May 1919, the Curtiss NC-4 started out in the company of NC-1 and NC-3, but  NC-1 and NC-4 both were forced to make landings in the water. Only the NC-4 completed the flight. It was not a non-stop flight, that honor belonged to Charles Lindbergh, but  NC-4 was the first plane to successfully complete a transatlantic flight.

There was an exhibit of a fighter cockpit, and so naturally I tried to stuff myself into it! It was very entertaining, they tell me, to watch my struggle! Finally I succeeded and gave the traditional "thumbs up" signal!

Pat squeezing into fighter cockpit

Success!

Upstairs there was quite a bit more, but the most interesting things to us were the exhibits for the various Apollo missions.  Patty and I were in a little village with no electricity on Cypress in July 1969 when America accomplished the first manned landing on the moon. We listened to coverage on a little battery powered transistor radio. 

In the other building, along with the Coast Guard exhibits, probably the most interesting thing was the Marine 1 helicopter that was used during the Nixon and Ford administrations, complete with a mannequin of President Nixon!  There was not just one helicopter that was "Marine 1," and it only got that designation when a president was on-board. Looking inside, it was smaller than we would have guessed.

We spent probably five hours at the Museum, including lunch at the Cubi Bar Cafe in the Museum. Opened in 1996, the Cubi Bar Café is not only a restaurant, but a popular Museum exhibit! The Cafe’s decor and layout duplicates the bar area of the famous Cubi Point Officers’ Club that was a major source of enjoyment for Navy and Marine Corps squadrons, ships and units as they passed into the Western Pacific. For nearly 40 years, the NAS Cubi Point Officers’ Club, in the Republic of the Philippines, was a marvelous mix of American efficiency and Filipino hospitality. The club was especially famous for its Plaque Bar, where transiting squadrons retired old plaques and commissioned new ones to commemorate each WestPac tour. The tradition of placing plaques in the O’ Club bar was started during the Vietnam Conflict and endured until the closing of the base in 1992.

We left the Museum a little before 4 p.m., because John Hightower, C-Brat name "Gulf Coast John," who owns a Tomcat TC255, expressed an interest in coming over the the Austins to meet us. They are interested in doing parts of the Loop segments. There was a little bit of a mix-up, as we all thought they were staying for dinner, but they had other commitments, but we still had a nice visit!

"Gulfcoast John" and Eileen

Tomorrow we will be spending some time cleaning the boat and getting everything ready to shove off on the Gulf Coast leg of our Loop!