Air Museum

[phrogpilot73]

Has anyone visited any of the air museums in Great Britain? Although I have only heard second hand, there are many great air museums there.

I've been to two. The first one I went to was the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm Museum:
http://www.fleetairarm.com/indexFlash.htm
The second was the International Helicopter Museum:
http://www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk/

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is incredible, very well done. I highly recommend it.

The International Helicopter Museum is also well done, but its smaller and a bit "grungier" in that it does alot of the restoration on site, and doesn't have a huge budget. But it is a very good museum and nothing but helicopters, which I loved. Once they found out that I was a US Marine Helicopter Pilot, I got the "behind the scenes" tour. They unlocked every aircraft so I could crawl in and look around, and they took me to the restoration shop as well. That's what made that experience great.

 

[Pags]

Nothing beats the Kuwait Air Force Museum, conveniently located off of the military ramp at Kuwait City International.

 

[BigRed389]

You guys wanna know what the best part of the Museum at Wright Patt is? The little F-4 Cockpit you get to sit in.... the one that looks like they drove an F-4 through the wall and just left it there.... Its a Navy F-4D. Yeah sure they had an F-4 Air Guard Squadron at Wright Patt whose heritage they are trying to honor by painting at such, but its a Navy Phantom.

The USS Intrepid has cockpits ripped out of an A-6 and A-4. It's a really great place, and a lot of retired Navy/military guys work there. And I hear they used to have more WW2 sailors/former Intrepid crewmen. A lot of great history on that ship.

 

[invertedflyer]

USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum as well, used to be a member.

 

[Flash]

Lucky bastard... My parents used to live in Manassas, so when I'd visit them I'd go. Now, I'm trying to convince my wife (who lives in Odenton) that it's worth the drive...

Not when you are trying to go to DC, traffic sucks.......

I make it to Odenton quite often, my mom lives in one of the old people buildings in Piney Orchard, nice town.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Not when you are trying to go to DC, traffic sucks.......

I make it to Odenton quite often, my mom lives in one of the old people buildings in Piney Orchard, nice town.

I would agree that traffic sucks in DC... I used to commute from Annapolis to Arlington (in my pre-USMC days), and usually when I leave my wife's house, I drive down 301... Adds 30 minutes to the trip, but it's worth it to not hit DC traffic!

Do you want me to swing by and say hello to your Mom? I'm headed there this weekend and my wife lives VERY close... It's a small world...

 

[HighDimension]

Do you want me to swing by and say hello to your Mom?

I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?

 

[Goober]

I make it to Odenton quite often, my mom lives in one of the old people buildings in Piney Orchard, nice town.

Think that's just next door to our old TH we just sold...off Strawberry Lake?

 

[Flash]

I would agree that traffic sucks in DC... I used to commute from Annapolis to Arlington (in my pre-USMC days), and usually when I leave my wife's house, I drive down 301... Adds 30 minutes to the trip, but it's worth it to not hit DC traffic!

Do you want me to swing by and say hello to your Mom? I'm headed there this weekend and my wife lives VERY close... It's a small world...

Is that a trick question? Of course, I could always stop by and say hello to you missus.......

 

[WBGTSNA]

I've been to two. The first one I went to was the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm Museum:
http://www.fleetairarm.com/indexFlash.htm
The second was the International Helicopter Museum:
http://www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk/

The Fleet Air Arm Museum is incredible, very well done. I highly recommend it.

The International Helicopter Museum is also well done, but its smaller and a bit "grungier" in that it does alot of the restoration on site, and doesn't have a huge budget. But it is a very good museum and nothing but helicopters, which I loved. Once they found out that I was a US Marine Helicopter Pilot, I got the "behind the scenes" tour. They unlocked every aircraft so I could crawl in and look around, and they took me to the restoration shop as well. That's what made that experience great.

I was fortunate enough to go on a UK Aviation History tour in the summer of 2004 and indeed it is very impressive. Some of our stops were:

- the Shuttleworth collection - an outdoor collection of some exquisitely restored early airplanes in Bedfordshire, England which included a flight demonstration of a Sopwith Triplane among others (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttleworth_Collection )

- the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation museum which pays tribute to Great Britain's WWII bombers and the Battle of Britain;

- the Imperial War Museum in Duxford which includes the American Air Museum of the United Kingdom which "stands as a memorial to the 30,000 Americans who died flying from the UK in the Second World War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum_Duxford) It was by far my favorite and does a great job of grouping the aircraft into relevant historical periods instead of attempting to cram as many aircraft into the room as humanly possible. Plus, I got a ride in the old UK Tiger Moth bi-plane trainer

It was a great trip - I learned a lot about aviation and it sealed the deal as far as my NROTC service selection was concerned.

 

[Flash]

Think that's just next door to our old TH we just sold...off Strawberry Lake?

She lives off Wandering Fox Trail, right across from the Food Lion (now Bloom). The places were built in the last 4 years so I am not sure if you were there. Like I said though, nice area. Housing prices are better there than where I live now so it is on the list of places to look if I stay in this area.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Think that's just next door to our old TH we just sold...off Strawberry Lake?

If you don't mind me asking, how much did your TH sell for? My wife and I are putting hers on the market this year, and she lives off Strawberry Lake...

Is that a trick question? Of course, I could always stop by and say hello to you missus.......

You can, but I'm sure I'd know what the reaction would be... "Oh great... Someone he met on Airwarriors. Am I ever going to hear the end of that website?!?"

She lives off Wandering Fox Trail, right across from the Food Lion (now Bloom). The places were built in the last 4 years so I am not sure if you were there. Like I said though, nice area. Housing prices are better there than where I live now so it is on the list of places to look if I stay in this area.

When I talked to my wife last night, surprisingly the old folks community across from Bloom is the first one she mentioned! What do you think of the new Bloom? My wife misses Food Lion, but I love Bloom. Oh christ, here I go again with another grocery store thread... Sorry, flame on.

 

[Goober]

She lives off Wandering Fox Trail, right across from the Food Lion (now Bloom). The places were built in the last 4 years so I am not sure if you were there.

Yeah, we just left back in the fall. I know right where you're talking about. If you went just a bit farther down Piney Orchard Pkwy and turned left, we lived back inside there.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did your TH sell for? My wife and I are putting hers on the market this year, and she lives off Strawberry Lake...

Sold for 420. 3 BR/3BA, driveway, garage, deck, 3-floor bumpout, etc. Turn onto Meandering from Strawberry Lake (across from the park), first stretch of THs on left (past the mailboxes). Not sure what model/builder she has, but the Graysons tend to sell for more due to the sq ft and garage than the Ryans do, but it's all relative. All have appreciated quite nicely over the last few years.