neaqrby Washington January 2017
It's been said that Washington is the Attic of American history- all the good stuff that tells the tales of the past seems to wind up here, primarily through museums which are as prevalent in Washington as government buildings. Of course, the Smithsonian Institute is the primary keeper of these historic artifacts and two of the world's best collections of air and space are the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall, and the nearby Steven Udvar-Hazy Museum outside the Dulles International airport. I've been to a lot of aviation museums but the Udvar Hazy ranks if not at the top, then close to it. The two biggest attractions are the SR-71 Blackbird featured front and centre when you enter the building and the space shuttle Columbia, also front and centre and a gallery directly in line of the Blackbird but of course, looming large behind it. The museum is designed wonderfully with a catwalk around and above the majority of the aircraft so that you can see them from a unique perspective and not only from the ground. (more Udvar Hazy photos on my UH page-click on Washington tab in Section1). The National Air and Space Museum houses many of the most historic aircraft in American history including the Spirit of St Louis, Bell X-1, X-15, H-1 Racer and countless more. We started out tour of these museums by flying into Washington's Reagan airport, itself an historic field (listed on the National Historic Registry), originally called Washington National. The facade of the original terminal building (see above) reflects the deco style of architecture which is quite common in Washington of buildings built in the 30's and 40's. We stayed in Crystal City which is a short ride on the Metro Blue line straight to the Smithsonian.
It's been said that Washington is the Attic of American history- all the good stuff that tells the tales of the past seems to wind up here, primarily through museums which are as prevalent in Washington as government buildings. Of course, the Smithsonian Institute is the primary keeper of these historic artifacts and two of the world's best collections of air and space are the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall, and the nearby Steven Udvar-Hazy Museum outside the Dulles International airport. I've been to a lot of aviation museums but the Udvar Hazy ranks if not at the top, then close to it. The two biggest attractions are the SR-71 Blackbird featured front and centre when you enter the building and the space shuttle Columbia, also front and centre and a gallery directly in line of the Blackbird but of course, looming large behind it. The museum is designed wonderfully with a catwalk around and above the majority of the aircraft so that you can see them from a unique perspective and not only from the ground. (more Udvar Hazy photos on my UH page-click on Washington tab in Section1). The National Air and Space Museum houses many of the most historic aircraft in American history including the Spirit of St Louis, Bell X-1, X-15, H-1 Racer and countless more. We started out tour of these museums by flying into Washington's Reagan airport, itself an historic field (listed on the National Historic Registry), originally called Washington National. The facade of the original terminal building (see above) reflects the deco style of architecture which is quite common in Washington of buildings built in the 30's and 40's. We stayed in Crystal City which is a short ride on the Metro Blue line straight to the Smithsonian.
Bollings field, Washington DC
I bought this rare photo from a collector of old photographs-he thought it was of an old field on the west coast but he could not have been further off. In fact, this is a photo of Bollings field, Washington's very first airfield which was built to protect the nation's capitol. If you look closely, you can see the capitol buildings on the other side of the Potomac river. This is the same airfield that Charles Lindbergh landed at (I've also read that he left from here too but I'm not sure) upon returning from his historic flight across the Atlantic. The photo was taken from the cockpit of a departing biplane and you can see part of the wing and wire in the bottom corners. At the back of the field there's some bombers parked which I am told are likely Martin MB-2's (see image below). Later on, another field was built just north of this one called Anacostia. The large object in the middle of the field is a gigantic wind indicator. Again, not really on topic, but it's a great photo of an old airfield.
Ready to scramble
Another view from the ground-18 fighters that I can count. If you're interested in historic airfields, a great website to check out is at http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/
Paul Freeman has put together a very cool index of little known fields in the US with some great photography as well. There's some great info there too about Bollings field.
Paul Freeman has put together a very cool index of little known fields in the US with some great photography as well. There's some great info there too about Bollings field.
Air Force One
Anyone recognize the building? I'm not sure if this photo was taken in Washington (possibly Anacostia AFB) or not but it is clearly the presidential plane-The Independence- and if you look closely, you can see the secret service agent standing sentinel on top of the coast gaurd hangar while the presidential entourage congregates on the apron-a neat shot of an early AirForce One. I picked this original photo up on Ebay a couple of years ago.
...and while we're on the subject of AirForce Ones in Washington, here's a bunch of pics of some other famous AirForce Ones on display at WPAFB....
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Smithsonian Institute
Any trip to Washington demands a stop at the National Air and Space museum where you'll find a collection of the most historic aircraft of the twentieth century. Make sure to incorporate enough pictures of your wife when photographing the aircraft to ensure you get to spend enough time inside. At left, the X-1 (first to break the speed of sound), SpaceShipOne (first private spaceship into space) Spirit of St.Louis (first across the Atlantic with one person) wife Ivana (blocking clear shot) :) This photo from an earlier visit in 2007 or so.
Chuck Yeager was the first pilot to break the sound barrier and has become the archetypal "cool" pilot for that evasive quality of test pilots that was made famous in the novel, "The Right Stuff" (which was also made into an excellent movie). His feat of climbing into what was essentially a rocket-propelled bullet was especially memorable as a result of the simple fact that many experts at the time believed that air travel faster than the speed of sound would invariably result in total destruction of an aircraft as it hit an invisible wall. His jet was built by a pioneering giant in aviation firsts, Bell Aircraft out of Buffalo, Ohio (see more in my Buffalo section). The Bell X-1 was intentionally shaped like a giant bullet if only because it was known that bullets could exceed the speed of sound. And he did it with a broken arm to boot! Since the last time I visited, the X-1 has apparently flown across the room to rest in the opposite corner.
It's really only practical to see maybe two museums in the course of a day in Washington unless you plan on running through each one you visit especially if you want to stop at any of the other significant tourist stops like the Lincoln memorial or White House which are at oppostie ends of the surprisingly long National Mall. I found that the Uber service came in very handy with very friendly drivers and reasonable rates to get around when distances threatened to steal too much of our museum viewing time.