Air Museum Field Trip

What an awesome field trip we went on this morning to visit the local Air Museum. We had the best tour guide ever...he knew quite a bit about the planes - especially the older ones from WWi and WWii. The kids got to ride on a simulator machine, sit in a 1950's jet cockpit, and learn all about planes from when they first were built. The first concept began in the 1500's and the first actual flight (in a hot air balloon) was in 1783...amazing.

Lionel & Sweet-Pea pose in the lobby of the museum. The ceiling was covered with all sorts of aircraft models...very cool!!












Lionel thought sitting in this cockpit was just about the greatest thing since sliced bread (well, except for the time he got to go inside the engine of a big diesel train, blow the horn and make it go!)










Daddy makes a pretty handsome pilot if I say so myself! He said it was a tight squeeze sitting up there and that the pilots of this aircraft must have been miserable sitting there for hours!









OK, this has to be the funniest name for a plane! The Pukin' Dogs! It's a Naval fighter plane (F-14B)...the kind that they use today. Totally awesome piece of technology! The back has the large catch thing that stops them when landing on aircraft carriers.






Lionel is standing beside one of the helicopters that his grandfather worked on. It is the Bell UH-1B Iroquois Army helicopter.











Look out! Here comes fighter pilot Sweet-Pea. OK, so maybe fighter pilot doesn't quite fit her name, but she did think it was a blast sitting in the cockpit pretending to fly all over the world!















Lionel in the simulator!
















Oh my goodness was this plane just too awesome to look at!?!?! It is the same exact style/size plane that the Enola Gay was - the fighter plane that bombed Hiroshima. This B-29 bomber was called Jack's Hack. There was room enough for 11 crew members, but not like a conventional plane...there were no seats except for the front where the pilot/co-pilot sat! The rest of the crew were manning the weapons while squeezed into very tight places. How horrible it must have been to fly like that!!
Here is the front view of the plane...exactly like that of the Enola Gay. I always pictured a small plane, but it was enormous in person! There's a person standing in the background on the right side...see how small they look?



A color-coordinated Lionel, beside a very cute early bi-plane.














"Honey, I'm home!"

Hey...where's the parade? Where's the big warm welcome?? No balloons? No big marching band?? Humph! I guess no one knew that 'I've arrived'.
















After leaving the air museum, this plane appropriately flew overhead while we were driving. Good thing we have a sun-roof or I'd never have gotten this awesome shot!









So, as you can see, we had a great field trip today. It was so nice that Daddy could tag along with us for a change. The kids just love having him on our trips...and so do I!!! Have a happy evening and if you ever need to fly somewhere, I know where you can find an airplane and a few good lookin' pilots!!