National Naval Aviation Museum pictures
Discussion
My second museum visit in two days!
This one is the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Or more exactly, its at the end of the runway at the Navy base in Pensacola. Essentially, Pensacola is very well known in the US Navy as its one of the main training places for Navy pilots, its the summer home and principle base for the Blue Angels, and its one of those Navy bases that many many US Navy personnel will go through at some point in their careers.
The museum is absolutely spectacular to visit, and is well worth a visit if you are ever near New Orleans (200miles away). The museum is on the Navy base and is free to enter. Generally you need ID to get onto the base but if you rock up and ask for a pass to the museum you'll get on base with directions. The only way to describe the base is that its one huge manicured golf course.
As you would expect, this being a National museum it probably is taxpayer funded, but I defy anyone who has visited this place and seen the quality of the exhibits and the surroundings to actually get up in arms about it, so down with the keyboards brave warriors
This is one place where you can say taxpayer money (probably not as much as you expect) has been well spent preserving some of the treasures of a national organisation like the US Navy.
The usual gate guardian - but what a guardian though!
This is the foyer and it should give you some idea of whats in store. The job of curator is to die for. You get to hang full sized planes from your ceiling!
These are all 1foot models and there are about 20 of them. They give you a real idea of how big naval carriers have become over the years. Interesting some of them are the models from the actual ships themselves. From what I can tell they all have their own scale model on each ship and they get rescued and donated. Some of the models are however replicas donated.
Stuff putting a poster on the wall - put the real thing up there!
First section seems to be WW2 carrier planes. I could be wrong of course. I won't bother with what each one is as I can't remember and wasn't taking notes. Just snaps.
These are four A4s that served as Blue Angles until 86 when these 4 were put on the ceiling. You will also see a Blue Angels F18 sitting outside in these pictures somewhere, along with a Tomcat. Both looking into the museum almost begging for a retirement in the aircon like the rest of the exhibits.
My money is on them waiting for a new annex to the building though. This place was packed to the rafters (literally) of planes.
You may be wondering if this tower from an old wooden top carrier is real. I believe it is.
These were from a static displays of an underwater plane that was rescued but not restored.
Static display of a jungle location.
Grrrrr....
"Can i come in please? Aircon looks nice!"
Blue Angels F16 sitting outside. In top left you see a serving F16 tail plane from the current Blue Angel fleet.
Assuming that yellow are trainers. This was a crowded room of planes!
These two are for Eric MC. No cheating please
Saturn Lander.
Well done for reaching this far! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
This one is the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Or more exactly, its at the end of the runway at the Navy base in Pensacola. Essentially, Pensacola is very well known in the US Navy as its one of the main training places for Navy pilots, its the summer home and principle base for the Blue Angels, and its one of those Navy bases that many many US Navy personnel will go through at some point in their careers.
The museum is absolutely spectacular to visit, and is well worth a visit if you are ever near New Orleans (200miles away). The museum is on the Navy base and is free to enter. Generally you need ID to get onto the base but if you rock up and ask for a pass to the museum you'll get on base with directions. The only way to describe the base is that its one huge manicured golf course.
As you would expect, this being a National museum it probably is taxpayer funded, but I defy anyone who has visited this place and seen the quality of the exhibits and the surroundings to actually get up in arms about it, so down with the keyboards brave warriors
This is one place where you can say taxpayer money (probably not as much as you expect) has been well spent preserving some of the treasures of a national organisation like the US Navy.The usual gate guardian - but what a guardian though!
This is the foyer and it should give you some idea of whats in store. The job of curator is to die for. You get to hang full sized planes from your ceiling!
These are all 1foot models and there are about 20 of them. They give you a real idea of how big naval carriers have become over the years. Interesting some of them are the models from the actual ships themselves. From what I can tell they all have their own scale model on each ship and they get rescued and donated. Some of the models are however replicas donated.
Stuff putting a poster on the wall - put the real thing up there!
First section seems to be WW2 carrier planes. I could be wrong of course. I won't bother with what each one is as I can't remember and wasn't taking notes. Just snaps.
These are four A4s that served as Blue Angles until 86 when these 4 were put on the ceiling. You will also see a Blue Angels F18 sitting outside in these pictures somewhere, along with a Tomcat. Both looking into the museum almost begging for a retirement in the aircon like the rest of the exhibits.
My money is on them waiting for a new annex to the building though. This place was packed to the rafters (literally) of planes.
You may be wondering if this tower from an old wooden top carrier is real. I believe it is.
These were from a static displays of an underwater plane that was rescued but not restored.
Static display of a jungle location.
Grrrrr....
"Can i come in please? Aircon looks nice!"
Blue Angels F16 sitting outside. In top left you see a serving F16 tail plane from the current Blue Angel fleet.
Assuming that yellow are trainers. This was a crowded room of planes!
These two are for Eric MC. No cheating please
Saturn Lander.
Well done for reaching this far! Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Edited by tinman0 on Tuesday 30th December 21:52
tinman0 said:
You may be wondering if this tower from an old wooden top carrier is real. I believe it is.
Well USS Cabot was an escort carrier during WWII then transferred to the Spanish Navy as the Dedalo and operated Harriers. It was decommissioned in 1989 and moved to Brownsville in the USA and the hull was totally scrapped between 2000-2002.What they have at the museum above is a replica of the bridge superstructure of the ship not the real thing, as it would have looked during WWII, the bigger bridge from the Cabot (in Spanish service) scrapped was much bigger and this video below shows it's final demolishing in 2007
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BlJIzmoTDJM#
FourWheelDrift said:
What they have at the museum above is a replica of the bridge superstructure of the ship not the real thing, as it would have looked during WWII, the bigger bridge from the Cabot (in Spanish service) scrapped was much bigger and this video below shows it's final demolishing in 2007
yeah, my mistake. should have re-read up on that. could have sworn it was more interesting than just a replica of part of the USS Cabot though and their site isn't shedding any more light on it. for some reason I even remember reading that an early flat top had its tower removed and a much bigger one replaced. i'm probably getting it confused with something else.
That place looks awesome. I wonder how many of the old boys there are ex-navy pilots.
If I ever win enough on the lotto i'll have to have a jet hanging from my garage roof
ETA: I love it when the jets have shark faces etc on them :grrr:
If I ever win enough on the lotto i'll have to have a jet hanging from my garage roof
ETA: I love it when the jets have shark faces etc on them :grrr:
Edited by skip_1 on Wednesday 31st December 01:23
It's almost too big to comprehend. Definitely a "must see" place for me.
The balloon gondola question has already been ansewered but I'll point out a few things -
that early selection of pictures you thought might be WW2 aircraft are actually from the late 1940s and early 1950s - the Grumman F8F Bearcat and the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider, for instance.
the "Saturn Lander" is, in fact, an Apollo Command Module. I'm not sure which Apollo mission it belongs to but quite a few of the early astronauts were US Navy pilots (some were still current at the time) so I'd hazard a guess that it is one from a missions where the crew was predominantly Navy.
although you are correct that most Navy training aircraft in WW2 were yellow, the fact that some aircraft (particularly the biplanes) have yellow wings does not mean they are trainers. In the 1920s and 1930s, most US military aircraft (both Army and Navy) had bright yellow wings. The colours were toned down by camouflage in the years immediately preceding America's entry into WW2 - starting around 1937/38.
The balloon gondola question has already been ansewered but I'll point out a few things -
that early selection of pictures you thought might be WW2 aircraft are actually from the late 1940s and early 1950s - the Grumman F8F Bearcat and the Douglas AD-1 Skyraider, for instance.
the "Saturn Lander" is, in fact, an Apollo Command Module. I'm not sure which Apollo mission it belongs to but quite a few of the early astronauts were US Navy pilots (some were still current at the time) so I'd hazard a guess that it is one from a missions where the crew was predominantly Navy.
although you are correct that most Navy training aircraft in WW2 were yellow, the fact that some aircraft (particularly the biplanes) have yellow wings does not mean they are trainers. In the 1920s and 1930s, most US military aircraft (both Army and Navy) had bright yellow wings. The colours were toned down by camouflage in the years immediately preceding America's entry into WW2 - starting around 1937/38.
great pictures many thanks!
a mate of mine did his training at pensicola and many of the new recruits where housed in trailers at the end of the runway!
for some reason he is no longer impressed by fighters, particually the display team, i guess a couple of years of living in a tin can and having them flying directly over your house day in day out does thet!!!!
a mate of mine did his training at pensicola and many of the new recruits where housed in trailers at the end of the runway!
for some reason he is no longer impressed by fighters, particually the display team, i guess a couple of years of living in a tin can and having them flying directly over your house day in day out does thet!!!!
Although I'd love to add more comments on the pictures in this thread, I'm finding that it is taking an age to scroll down through the thread and my computer really slows up when it is open. Therefore, I'll will have to pass on adding any other info - which is aa real shame (for me especially).
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