Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (Full Version)

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roberto5352 -> Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/20/2005 11:07:22 PM)

My awesome girlfriend and I are headed out to Virginia to check out the Dulles Annex of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. In addition to a space shuttle and an SR-71, I understand they have some cool WWII aviation exhibits. Anyone been and have some "must sees"? Don't want to miss anything. Also, if I know ahead of time what we're going to see, I can do some research ahead of time and impress her with my apparent knowledge. :)



skrewball -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 12:03:49 AM)

Well be being the typical 'townie' I lived 20 mins from it and never went to see it! Now I live about 6,000 miles away. So fill me in on all the cool WWII stuff there! I also believe they have the First NASA shuttle, Enterprise, there.



Brady -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 12:08:07 AM)

I Beleave it is the sight made up from many of the planes that were in the Paul E Garber Facility, if so you are in for a real treat they have many rare and one of examples of WW2 Aircraft, I was fortunate enough to tour the Facility a couple years ago, when it was by appointment only, I was able to put my paw on many rare Japanese and German and Allied plane types, a truly great day.



elcidce -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 2:46:48 AM)

I was there last summer. I was living in Manassas, VA at the time. They have quite a few ww2 airplanes. I remember they have a Tomahawk (p40), a Mustang, Corsair, Enola Gay, FW190, ME 109 and I think a me 262. There is a large exhibit of Japanese aircraft. I think they had a Tony or Oscar on exhibit? Im not sure about that one. They had a section on missle technology. They had missles used in ww2 to modern day. I liked the section on the cold war and Vietnam aircraft and missles. There is a section on modern engine development also. I didnt spend too much time with the civil aircraft. I saw the concorde and several airliners. I am only remembering the ones I liked. I understand there are three imax theatres that show shows several times a day. They had a nascar film that was suposed to be really good. If you get tired you can go see the observation deck and watch the planes leaving Dulles Airport.

My only gripe about the place is that it is really not made well to bring families. We have four kids and it was tough taking care of them while we were there. We had a stroller and alll that stuff. You should plan on leaving stuff like that home.

Also the charge admission by the car load. If you have a few people you should plan on taking one vehicle.

I really loved my trip there. I hope I can return when i visit our relatives there soon. Enjoy your trip its a great place to visit. It really blows the old museum on the mall away. There is a really good webpage, but i dont remember it . Im sure you can find a link at the smithsonian Institutions page.



Sonny -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 1:53:33 PM)

It is a great place. It will be even better when they open up the restoration shops to public view (if they haven't already).

There are volunteers there who give tours which are most interesting (at least our tour guide was) even though they don't cover everything on the tour.

Just take your time and look around - count on taking two hours unless you want to read all of the placards in which case add another hour.

Several buddies and I used to take the tour of the Garber facility (where they used to do all the restoration) every year.

And yes the parking is $12 a car. However there is no entrance fee to the facility itself.

You just gotta love it when the first thing you see when you enter the building is a Warhawk and a Corsair suspended in mid-air right before your eyes. The Corsair is autographed, under one of the wings, by "Pappy" Boyington.



mogami -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 2:24:38 PM)

Hi, Was there last year. They have an Zeke (a 3 or a 5) the cockpit of a B-25 and one of the variations of the Wildcat (is that an FM-2 or something like that)



Sonny -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 4:20:10 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, Was there last year. They have an Zeke (a 3 or a 5) the cockpit of a B-25 and one of the variations of the Wildcat (is that an FM-2 or something like that)


And you didn't stop by to say Hi???



tc464 -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/21/2005 7:15:49 PM)

Back in the back, around the Shuttle, are a bunch of german radio guided bombs, some American TV guided stuff, and some good rocket examples. And I'm pretty sure the IMAX is still playing "Red Flag". Excellent movie.

Know what the great thing is ? I get *PAID* to go there. [:D]



freeboy -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/22/2005 2:06:12 AM)

I saw several references to the Horner Bros flying wing.. has anyone seen this at any of the US museams?



SeaWolF K -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/22/2005 3:36:54 AM)

I live about 10 miles from it and have been to it several times, I was greatly disappointed with it. My opinion is that it is one of the better air and space museums out there, but it isn't even in the same leauge as the military museums. By far the best collection of World War II aircraft I've seen is at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio. (My last duty station was Wright Patt and I am currently stationed in DC.



Brady -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/22/2005 7:36:35 AM)

" saw several references to the Horner Bros flying wing.. has anyone seen this at any of the US museams"

I am fairly certain I saw it at the Pauel E. Garber Facility, their were so many planes their or parts of them, I know for certain for instance they had the Engine (only) of a He-177 their for example, a Me 410, Francis, Strumavic, Mosse, Scads of planes the list is extensive, and as noted above many of the compleated models are visable to the public now, one day I hope to go back and have a look see, I did get to see the restoration facility they had then and it was impresave. The best part for me was the Japanese and German planes, and the Strumavic, their are a lot of Museums on the wast coast and they all have the Typical US stuff in the, that being Coursares and P51's P38 ect, so this was a real treat.

The Air Force Museum is defenatly cool as well, I saw it on the same trip in fact (and U-505 in Chicago), Lots of great planes their, the MC 200 was probably my favorate, that and the Dora 9, the B 26 was a treat also, I hadent sean one in a museum in the west, their gn display was prety impresive to. The Ju 88 was another treat, and I kicked it under the wing of a JU 52 out side before I left, for points east.



crsutton -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/25/2005 7:58:27 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Brady

" saw several references to the Horner Bros flying wing.. has anyone seen this at any of the US museams"

I am fairly certain I saw it at the Pauel E. Garber Facility, their were so many planes their or parts of them, I know for certain for instance they had the Engine (only) of a He-177 their for example, a Me 410, Francis, Strumavic, Mosse, Scads of planes the list is extensive, and as noted above many of the compleated models are visable to the public now, one day I hope to go back and have a look see, I did get to see the restoration facility they had then and it was impresave. The best part for me was the Japanese and German planes, and the Strumavic, their are a lot of Museums on the wast coast and they all have the Typical US stuff in the, that being Coursares and P51's P38 ect, so this was a real treat.

The Air Force Museum is defenatly cool as well, I saw it on the same trip in fact (and U-505 in Chicago), Lots of great planes their, the MC 200 was probably my favorate, that and the Dora 9, the B 26 was a treat also, I hadent sean one in a museum in the west, their gn display was prety impresive to. The Ju 88 was another treat, and I kicked it under the wing of a JU 52 out side before I left, for points east.



Yes the only one is in the Smithsonian collection. Unrestored. Sadly, I don't think there are any plans to restore it in the future. They have a limited budget and only restore two or three planes at any given time. Most restoration projects take many years. The bulk of their collection is unrestored and many are in pieces. They have the front half of a Betty but that is all. Have the Japanese copy of the ME262 as well. Lots of cool stuff there. If I was King of the World (and I shall be) they would be restoring those aircraft and the tanks at Aberdeen lickedy split. We would not piss any more money away on silly little wars or Public radio [:D]



Sonny -> RE: Air & Space Museum, Dulles Annex (2/25/2005 4:18:14 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: crsutton


Yes the only one is in the Smithsonian collection. Unrestored. Sadly, I don't think there are any plans to restore it in the future. They have a limited budget and only restore two or three planes at any given time. Most restoration projects take many years. The bulk of their collection is unrestored and many are in pieces. They have the front half of a Betty but that is all. Have the Japanese copy of the ME262 as well. Lots of cool stuff there. If I was King of the World (and I shall be) they would be restoring those aircraft and the tanks at Aberdeen lickedy split. We would not piss any more money away on silly little wars or Public radio [:D]


Can you believe how small a space the crew has in those Bettys? Once you are in the pilot seat you could not even move! And that is IF you could get in there. They were not made for folks who were over about 5'5" and 150 lbs.



roberto5352 -> Museum AAR (3/2/2005 10:05:54 PM)

Had a really good time this weekend at the museum. I'd highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Eat first though, the only restaurant right now is a subway, and they only have cold boxed subs. ugh.

WWII aviation.

The first thing you see, as someone mentioned, is an F4U-1D and a P40E suspended (you're on an elevated walkway, so it's eye level). great way to start. The other WWII planes are all on the ground:
B-29 Enola Gay (It's huge. It dwarfs all the other WWII planes around... many of them are actually underneath its wings/tail)
Mustang
P-38J Lightning (never seen one in real life. Unfortunately, the postioning of the plane makes it hard to see the rear half of the plane, which makes it hard to see the way the fuselage is laid out, which is obviously the most interesting part)
Hurricane
Fuselage of a Tony (cool upward firing guns)
Fuselage of another late-model Japanese fighter
Some zany sub-launched Japanese bomber model. According to the placard, intended for bombing distant strategic targets like the Panama Canal. anyone know anything more about this?
F6F (also suspended)
OS2U (also suspended)
There's also some german stuff that I didn't know as much about.

Really cool stuff, but it's almost exclusively fighter-type stuff. I would've liked to see a B-17 or -24, a Dauntless, or a Betty.

High points of other areas. Civil aviation has a Concorde and a prototype 707. Post-WWII has a MiG-15, a Phantom, an Intruder, and, coolest of all, a Joint Strike Fighter Prototype. The space exhibit was a bit of a disappointment. Enterprise is there, but not much else, I thought. The missiles sections has a Fritz X-1, and a bunch of other crazy German prototype missiles. And there's an SR-71. All in all, not bad for $11 (shuttle from A&S museum on the mall).

Robert



Sonny -> RE: Museum AAR (3/3/2005 6:39:52 PM)

They do have a Betty (at least the front part of it) but I do not know if it will ever be restored.

They are trying to get a B-24. Despite being the most produced bomber they were not built as "the plane of the future" and so most of them were scrapped. The guy I talked to said there are only 6 of them left but I can't remember if that is total or flyable ones. I don't think any are flyable.



Brady -> RE: Museum AAR (3/3/2005 6:55:55 PM)

AT least one B-24 is flyable I watched it flying for several days over the Countryside whear I live in Oregon last summer, every year they tours a certain number of Aiports and offer rides(a B-17 goes with it).



freeboy -> RE: Museum AAR (3/3/2005 7:47:26 PM)

I saw a 29 as a child.. in the 60's.. surely this was a non airforce 29



TheElf -> RE: Museum AAR (3/3/2005 9:19:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: roberto5352

Fuselage of a Tony (cool upward firing guns)


This is actually a Ki-45 Nick [:)]

The floatplane bomber is Aichi Seiran. They've been making the rounds on the history channels "What if" series.

[image]local://upfiles/9170/Yw689187604.jpg[/image]



roberto5352 -> RE: Museum AAR (3/3/2005 10:45:47 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheElf

quote:

ORIGINAL: roberto5352

Fuselage of a Tony (cool upward firing guns)


This is actually a Ki-45 Nick [:)]



Oops. Clearly, i'm not a die-hard like some people. I just like looking at pretty planes [:)]



TheElf -> RE: Museum AAR (3/4/2005 12:28:40 AM)

No worries. Now you know...[;)]



Brady -> RE: Museum AAR (3/4/2005 1:17:32 AM)

Ya I got prety close to the Aichi , when I was their, it is a prety good size plane, and Man did they do a good job restoring her, very Beautiful.

FiFi, is I beleave still the only flying B-29 left, I was able to get into her cockpit at an airshow about 10 years ago spent about 45 in their till they kicked me out[:)] part of the problem with the Big Bombers and particularly FiFi, is the cost of flying them, their not teriably fuel efficient, the monstorous Engines requier a lot of maintance and the eat Oil by the hundreds of gallons, or so I was told by one of her crew.



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