I’m busier than a one-winged bee, but had time to snap this shot of the Spirit of St. Louis, SpaceShipOne, and the Bell X-1 all hanging from the ceiling of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washingfton, DC.
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As someone who works in the industry, and appreciates a lot of the history of flying machines, I say, well done. Have an internets!
Can we have a larger version please? Pretty please with airplanes on it?
For anyone who loves the history of flight, check out the AF Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
There are some displays that you can walk through and even a couple that we were able to sit in the cockpit.
It’s been over 20 years since I was there, so this may no longer be allowed.
We lived nearby, and my kids loved going there when we needed a place to go.
One of the neatest events of my life was when our spouses’ singing group got to perform with the AF Band and the performance was held in the museum with the planes as a backdrop. Fantastic memory!
That’s 80 years? From operational Bell-X1 to SpaceShipOne was only 65 years; it was 45 years earlier the Wright Brothers began this little foray into 3 dimensions.
I just love the Smithsonians. I go look at the Wright Brothers plane every time a friend comes to town and hasn’t been to the Air and Space Museum yet, and it never gets old. I hope you have time for strolls through Natural History and American History as well, both are just amazing!
magistramarla, I make it a habit to visit air/space museums whenever I can (which isn’t often enough). The museum in Dayton (don’t miss the Air Force 1 hangar) is very nice, with quite a few unique aircraft. I would also recommend the one in San Diego, and the Pima Air museum in Tucson (the neat thing about Pima is that you can view a lot of it on google maps).
When I went to the Smithsonian A&S museum in 82, they were displaying the Apollo-Soyuz capsules, joined together. At first I didn’t think they could be real.
When I was, let’s see, 14 or 15 I guess, they had just opened the NASM, so of course I went there when I came to the area to visit my dad for the summer. Best part though is that he knew the director or something, so I got a behind-the-scenes tour, like up in the IMAX projection booth. I still have the 2 frames of a used-up print of “To Fly” that they gave me as a memento. Let’s see, that movie is 27 minutes, times 60 times 24 is about 39,000 frames, so one used-up print can go to a lot of visitors!
If you have a chance, try to get out to the Udvar-Hazy annex of the NASM too. They have some awesome stuff out there. (It’s adjacent to Dulles airport.)
seconds on the Pima museum. whatever one’s views on Katpitalism and the Military Industrial Complex, the SR71 remains near the high point of aircraft technology (i only added “near” in acknowledgement that the space Shuttle nominally flew airplane style on reentry) and don’t spare the $. pretty impressive, and without a doubt the most badass mean looking airplane ever built. worth going just to see that one.
I grew up in Washington and went to the University of Maryland. I worked for a catering company while I was in college and Air & Space was a popular venue for large receptions. We used to set up a bar in front of the Eagle landing module, which is a wonderful photo op. I suspect I am tangentially in many photos taken at American Bar Association events in the early 80’s.
We also used to use the WWI hall as a clearing station. It’s a little odd scraping plates into a giant trash can in front of Eddie Rickenbacker’s uniform and several Distinguished Service Crosses.
I’ve been many times as both a visitor and waiter and it remains one of my favorite places in the country. Watching “To Fly” as a grade school kid was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
@4: Spirit of St. Louis = 1927. SpaceShipOne = 2004. (2004-1927)=77. Close enough?
It’s been…15 years or more since I’ve been to the NASM, still one of my favorite memories. I also second the National Museum of the Airforce at Wright-Patt AFB, tons of cool aircraft there. I have a picture floating around somewhere of me with my hands on the SR-71 right next to the sign that says “Do not touch aircraft”. Yeah, I was a rebel back then :P
The Air and Space is my favorite Smithsonian museum. Last time I went through DC (2 yrs ago), I went to Udvar-Hazy for the 1st time, and it was fantastic. Heading into DC afterwards (to the A&S there), I got into an accident that cost me a few thousand $$. I’m still not sure it wasn’t worth it. They are both incredible museums.