Tuesday was a miserably wet day and it was definitely a good idea to stay indoors. So, I ended up spending six happy hours, nice and dry, looking at hundreds of airplanes, rockets, space shuttles and propulsion engines at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in Virginia. This is the “annex” to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. It comprises two vast (and I mean VAST) hangars: the Boeing Aviation Center and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.
Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer wonder of this magnificent collection. Walk into the section above and you go into sensory overload as you see a prototype of the Boeing 707, Concorde, a silver Pan Am Cruiser, a huge Lockheed Constellation and many small bi-planes and jets seemingly suspended in flight above you. The whole history of civil aviation is laid out before you in a riot of different colors, shapes and forms. It is simply breathtaking.
If that doesn’t overpower you, then the sight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (above) with the Discovery Space Shuttle in the background will definitely send you into orbit. Whether looking at a warplane, airliner, propulsion engine, space shuttle or rocket, you cannot help but reflect that we have come a long way (and in a great hurry) since the brothers Wright first achieved controlled and powered airplane flights in 1903. What on earth would they have thought of the Blackbird?
I was lucky enough to catch a free 1.5 hour docent tour around some of the highlights of the museum. I was even luckier that our docent got carried away and spent almost 3 hours with our small group. The docents are all volunteers and mainly former pilots, NASA employees, flight engineers and historians.
Our docent was a former pilot named Alex (left) and I could have listened to his colorful yarns, plane histories and lucid explanations for many more hours. I thought he might be in his 60s but he turned out to be 80. Still going strong.
We started with the first plane that you see as you enter the museum--the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. It is a thing of beauty and menace. I didn’t really know how to capture it in a photograph but its beauty lies in its silver underbelly, shark-like streamlining and two engines (the cones withdraw inwards at speed) that seemed to float off to the side. The menace is best captured from above when you see just how massive this airplane really is. All the more incredible that it is invisible to enemy radar.
Of course, it didn’t “menace” anyone because it was a reconnaissance aircraft and its “enemies” didn’t know that it was even up there at 80, 000 feet and flying over them at speeds in excess of 2,000 mph.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time over 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. As Alex proudly told us, it flew "with complete impunity over just about every hostile territory on earth and we never lost one”. And, he added, "it was conceived and produced in the days of slide rules, not computers".
Alex knew one of the pilots who flew this Blackbird from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles Airport on its last flight at an average speed of 2,124 mph in record time--1 hour, 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The pilots had a packed lunch but didn’t have time to eat it because they got here so quickly. If only United or American Airlines were as efficient. But, hey, the peanuts are free again.
We went from supersonic to the 1908 Wright Military Flyer which was extensively tested at Fort Myer.
We lived right next door to Fort Myer (not to mention the Pentagon) when we lived in Oak Street, Arlington. I had no idea we were so close to history--and certainly too close to history when the Pentagon was hit on September 11, 2001.
This is a "flyable reproduction” which was made by an engineer in Virginia. The next year, the Wright brothers tested and produced the 1909 Military Flyer and sold it to the U.S. Army for $30,000. (As we know, Pentagon lavatory seats cost $5,000 these days so it was a comparative bargain). That original 1909 Military Flyer was the world’s first “warplane" and is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
We walked from the Wrights’ flimsy 1908 warplane to the gleaming silver mass of a 1945 warplane, the Enola Gay. This Silverplate version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, is the plane that dropped the gun-type uranium atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Just look at the engines and colossal wing span of this monster (below). I found it somewhat ironic that there were two Japanese fighter planes sheltering under one of its wings. Hearing the whole unlikely story of the Manhattan Project and the many set backs, failures and twists and turns of fate, it is almost unbelievable that the Enola Gay accomplished its fateful mission.
Alex also told us about the plane that dropped the plutonium implosion-type bomb on Nagasaki and how the pilot dived and banked sharply to get away from the blast.
He had no idea whether they would even survive the blast because the plutonium bomb had never been tested. Survive they did--even though at a distance of seven miles the plane was hit by a “heat wave” and the fillings in their teeth "caused a metallic taste in their mouths.” Alex was a master of the telling detail.
Next up was the huge restoration room where they restore and otherwise bring up to museum standards all sorts of wrecked planes and other objects of historic importance.
Two planes stood out. On the left is is an early prototype of a German jet plane from the Second World War. They literally wedged the pilot between two jet engines and sent the poor guy off. You can see the wings with the German markings over to the right of the photo.
Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the Nazis, the jet engine was only developed near the end of the war. The massive British and American bombing raids were destroying German aircraft factories as fast as they were built or repaired so the Nazis could not get them into full production. And, of course, they were frantically working on the atom bomb.
Another plane being restored was a Martin B-26 Marauder bomber (right ) with the name “Flak Bait” painted on its fuselage. It had made 207 successful bombing raids over Europe and survived. This was the most durable American bomber of the Second World War and is one of the few Marauders remaining.
The markings (red bombs) on the side show just how many sorties this bomber had made. It was miraculous that anything survived the flak that those bombers encountered--let alone surviving over 200 raids. One of the pilots who flew this plane on many raids called it “Flak Bait” after the name his brother gave the family dog (“Flea Bait”). Grim humor in grim days.
And then my favorite (below), the Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle 13) that followed the Columbia and Challenger in NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Over 27 years, the Discovery clocked up 39 launches and landings. It defies belief that this shuttle withstood a fiery re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere on 39 occasions, thanks to constant repair and replacement of just about every one of its heat tiles over its working life. What a work horse, now put out to pasture.
You see these space shuttles being launched on the back of massive rockets and they look so small and inconsequential as they rise up above all the smoke and flame of take-off. However, when you walk around this battered looking shuttle, it is absolutely massive and awe-inspiring.
While it might be carried up into space, it has to have its own power to maneuver and guide itself back down to earth. The business end of Discovery (above) and the size of the people nearby gives you some idea of its size. In terms of achievement, quite apart from just surviving, it performed many research missions, flew on assembly and re-supply missions to the International Space Station and, most memorably, carried the Hubble Telescope into orbit.
On all its varied missions it spent almost a full year in space. When it was finally retired in March 2011, it was followed by the Endeavour and Atlantis shuttles. It was given the name “Discovery” in honor of earlier ships of exploration--such as one of Captain James Cook’s ships (HMS Discovery) and Henry Hudson’s Discovery which he used to explore the waters of Hudson Bay and search for the elusive Northwest Passage.
I don’t have the space (no pun intended) to describe everything that Alex showed us so here are a few additional photos of some of the other wonders to be found in the Udvar-Hazy Center.
This looks like it should be hanging in the East Wing of the National Gallery--a sort of Japanese Calder-style mobile. In fact, it is a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite which keeps various space vehicles such as shuttles and the International Space Lab in constant communication with Earth. The gold looking struts are indeed 24 carat gold; and they hang this satellite high up in case anyone tries to swipe it.
Everyone has heard of the French Nieuport 28C.1 produced by the French in 1917. No? Well, it must be the French branch of the Newport family. Sadly, the French Army did not accept it and they palmed it off onto the Americans who did not have any warplanes of their own in France in WWI. They liked it and flew it with great success. No wonder I came to America.
By the time of WWII, the Americans had plenty of planes. This is a fighter plane called the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk. Sometimes known as the Warhawk or Tomahawk, this fighter was one of the most successful and versatile in the first half of the war. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault’s “Flying Tigers” flew against the Japanese in China made them one of the most memorable American fighter planes. They certainly look deadly!
Hats off to the aeronautical engineers. While I know nothing about engines (except where to put the oil in), I was absolutely fascinated by a huge selection of airplane engines down one side of the Boeing Hangar. This one looks a little complicated and it is.
It is a Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL Propulsion Engine designed to achieve short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL). The big engine at the back is a Pratt-Whitney turbo fan engine which powers both the conventional and STOVL versions of the X-35. But we have to remember that it was Rolls Royce who first developed the STOVL components; and that the British Harrier Jump Jet was really the first STOVL airplane.
Last but not least, the beautiful Concorde (below) seen in all her glory from a high walkway above the Civil Aviation section. I had vertigo getting up to the walkway and it was even worse when I looked down to take photos.
All I can say is that six hours among all those planes went by very quickly. I fully intend to go back there many times because it would be impossible to see everything--even if you went every day for a year. You will love it too. And you never know--you may get a guided tour with this docent. He seems to be there all the time hanging out in the Gift Shop.
Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer wonder of this magnificent collection. Walk into the section above and you go into sensory overload as you see a prototype of the Boeing 707, Concorde, a silver Pan Am Cruiser, a huge Lockheed Constellation and many small bi-planes and jets seemingly suspended in flight above you. The whole history of civil aviation is laid out before you in a riot of different colors, shapes and forms. It is simply breathtaking.
If that doesn’t overpower you, then the sight of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (above) with the Discovery Space Shuttle in the background will definitely send you into orbit. Whether looking at a warplane, airliner, propulsion engine, space shuttle or rocket, you cannot help but reflect that we have come a long way (and in a great hurry) since the brothers Wright first achieved controlled and powered airplane flights in 1903. What on earth would they have thought of the Blackbird?
I was lucky enough to catch a free 1.5 hour docent tour around some of the highlights of the museum. I was even luckier that our docent got carried away and spent almost 3 hours with our small group. The docents are all volunteers and mainly former pilots, NASA employees, flight engineers and historians.
Our docent was a former pilot named Alex (left) and I could have listened to his colorful yarns, plane histories and lucid explanations for many more hours. I thought he might be in his 60s but he turned out to be 80. Still going strong.
We started with the first plane that you see as you enter the museum--the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. It is a thing of beauty and menace. I didn’t really know how to capture it in a photograph but its beauty lies in its silver underbelly, shark-like streamlining and two engines (the cones withdraw inwards at speed) that seemed to float off to the side. The menace is best captured from above when you see just how massive this airplane really is. All the more incredible that it is invisible to enemy radar.
Of course, it didn’t “menace” anyone because it was a reconnaissance aircraft and its “enemies” didn’t know that it was even up there at 80, 000 feet and flying over them at speeds in excess of 2,000 mph.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time over 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. As Alex proudly told us, it flew "with complete impunity over just about every hostile territory on earth and we never lost one”. And, he added, "it was conceived and produced in the days of slide rules, not computers".
Alex knew one of the pilots who flew this Blackbird from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles Airport on its last flight at an average speed of 2,124 mph in record time--1 hour, 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The pilots had a packed lunch but didn’t have time to eat it because they got here so quickly. If only United or American Airlines were as efficient. But, hey, the peanuts are free again.
We went from supersonic to the 1908 Wright Military Flyer which was extensively tested at Fort Myer.
We lived right next door to Fort Myer (not to mention the Pentagon) when we lived in Oak Street, Arlington. I had no idea we were so close to history--and certainly too close to history when the Pentagon was hit on September 11, 2001.
This is a "flyable reproduction” which was made by an engineer in Virginia. The next year, the Wright brothers tested and produced the 1909 Military Flyer and sold it to the U.S. Army for $30,000. (As we know, Pentagon lavatory seats cost $5,000 these days so it was a comparative bargain). That original 1909 Military Flyer was the world’s first “warplane" and is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
We walked from the Wrights’ flimsy 1908 warplane to the gleaming silver mass of a 1945 warplane, the Enola Gay. This Silverplate version of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, is the plane that dropped the gun-type uranium atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Just look at the engines and colossal wing span of this monster (below). I found it somewhat ironic that there were two Japanese fighter planes sheltering under one of its wings. Hearing the whole unlikely story of the Manhattan Project and the many set backs, failures and twists and turns of fate, it is almost unbelievable that the Enola Gay accomplished its fateful mission.
Alex also told us about the plane that dropped the plutonium implosion-type bomb on Nagasaki and how the pilot dived and banked sharply to get away from the blast.
He had no idea whether they would even survive the blast because the plutonium bomb had never been tested. Survive they did--even though at a distance of seven miles the plane was hit by a “heat wave” and the fillings in their teeth "caused a metallic taste in their mouths.” Alex was a master of the telling detail.
Next up was the huge restoration room where they restore and otherwise bring up to museum standards all sorts of wrecked planes and other objects of historic importance.
Two planes stood out. On the left is is an early prototype of a German jet plane from the Second World War. They literally wedged the pilot between two jet engines and sent the poor guy off. You can see the wings with the German markings over to the right of the photo.
Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the Nazis, the jet engine was only developed near the end of the war. The massive British and American bombing raids were destroying German aircraft factories as fast as they were built or repaired so the Nazis could not get them into full production. And, of course, they were frantically working on the atom bomb.
Another plane being restored was a Martin B-26 Marauder bomber (right ) with the name “Flak Bait” painted on its fuselage. It had made 207 successful bombing raids over Europe and survived. This was the most durable American bomber of the Second World War and is one of the few Marauders remaining.
The markings (red bombs) on the side show just how many sorties this bomber had made. It was miraculous that anything survived the flak that those bombers encountered--let alone surviving over 200 raids. One of the pilots who flew this plane on many raids called it “Flak Bait” after the name his brother gave the family dog (“Flea Bait”). Grim humor in grim days.
And then my favorite (below), the Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle 13) that followed the Columbia and Challenger in NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Over 27 years, the Discovery clocked up 39 launches and landings. It defies belief that this shuttle withstood a fiery re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere on 39 occasions, thanks to constant repair and replacement of just about every one of its heat tiles over its working life. What a work horse, now put out to pasture.
You see these space shuttles being launched on the back of massive rockets and they look so small and inconsequential as they rise up above all the smoke and flame of take-off. However, when you walk around this battered looking shuttle, it is absolutely massive and awe-inspiring.
While it might be carried up into space, it has to have its own power to maneuver and guide itself back down to earth. The business end of Discovery (above) and the size of the people nearby gives you some idea of its size. In terms of achievement, quite apart from just surviving, it performed many research missions, flew on assembly and re-supply missions to the International Space Station and, most memorably, carried the Hubble Telescope into orbit.
On all its varied missions it spent almost a full year in space. When it was finally retired in March 2011, it was followed by the Endeavour and Atlantis shuttles. It was given the name “Discovery” in honor of earlier ships of exploration--such as one of Captain James Cook’s ships (HMS Discovery) and Henry Hudson’s Discovery which he used to explore the waters of Hudson Bay and search for the elusive Northwest Passage.
I don’t have the space (no pun intended) to describe everything that Alex showed us so here are a few additional photos of some of the other wonders to be found in the Udvar-Hazy Center.
This looks like it should be hanging in the East Wing of the National Gallery--a sort of Japanese Calder-style mobile. In fact, it is a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite which keeps various space vehicles such as shuttles and the International Space Lab in constant communication with Earth. The gold looking struts are indeed 24 carat gold; and they hang this satellite high up in case anyone tries to swipe it.
Everyone has heard of the French Nieuport 28C.1 produced by the French in 1917. No? Well, it must be the French branch of the Newport family. Sadly, the French Army did not accept it and they palmed it off onto the Americans who did not have any warplanes of their own in France in WWI. They liked it and flew it with great success. No wonder I came to America.
By the time of WWII, the Americans had plenty of planes. This is a fighter plane called the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk. Sometimes known as the Warhawk or Tomahawk, this fighter was one of the most successful and versatile in the first half of the war. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault’s “Flying Tigers” flew against the Japanese in China made them one of the most memorable American fighter planes. They certainly look deadly!
Hats off to the aeronautical engineers. While I know nothing about engines (except where to put the oil in), I was absolutely fascinated by a huge selection of airplane engines down one side of the Boeing Hangar. This one looks a little complicated and it is.
It is a Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL Propulsion Engine designed to achieve short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL). The big engine at the back is a Pratt-Whitney turbo fan engine which powers both the conventional and STOVL versions of the X-35. But we have to remember that it was Rolls Royce who first developed the STOVL components; and that the British Harrier Jump Jet was really the first STOVL airplane.
Last but not least, the beautiful Concorde (below) seen in all her glory from a high walkway above the Civil Aviation section. I had vertigo getting up to the walkway and it was even worse when I looked down to take photos.
All I can say is that six hours among all those planes went by very quickly. I fully intend to go back there many times because it would be impossible to see everything--even if you went every day for a year. You will love it too. And you never know--you may get a guided tour with this docent. He seems to be there all the time hanging out in the Gift Shop.
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