The Museum of Flight is the largest independent non-profit air and space museum in the world. Its organization began in 1964 to preserve important and historic artifacts representing the evolution of flight. It is home to 175 aircraft and spacecraft, exhibits, and education programs. The museum features artifacts regardless of their manufacturer, but it is associated with Boeing and is sometimes referred to as the Boeing Museum. We overheard a distressed boy about eight years old complaining to his mother that he thought there would be more to their outing than pictures and planes. He wondered when they would get to the bowling [Boeing].
The Red Barn is Boeing’s birthplace. The building was floated by barge to the museum site and restored in 1983. It includes exhibits on the history of the Boeing organization and equipment used in manufacturing Boeing aircraft. The wood-look floor even includes oil stains. The Great Gallery displays aircraft suspended as if in flight . . .. . . and on the groundReplica of Boeing’s first aircraft, its Model 1, built in 1916.Reproduction of Boeing Model 40B which first flew in 1925 as a mail planeStearman C-3B, a mailplane built in 1927. Dave flew in one when we visited the Experimental Aircraft Association facility in Oshkosh in 2019. The Lockheed Model 10-E Electra was built between 1934 and 1941. The plane in the museum was flown in 1997 by pilot Linda Fitch when she retraced and completed Amelia Earhart’s planned flight around the world.The Lockheed Blackbird M-21 carried unpiloted vehicles for intelligence-gathering. It flew at three times the speed of sound and at 85,000 feet in elevation. Only two aircraft were modified to carry drones and the loss of one of the aircraft with a fatality in 1966 led to the cancellation of the program.Scan Eagle by Insitu, Inc. in partnership with Boeing is a long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle used for reconnaissance. The craft in the museum’s collection was deployed from the U.S.S. Bainbridge during the 2009 mission to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips of the MV Maersk Alabama after an attempted hijacking by pirates off the coast of Somali.
The Charles Simonyi Space Gallery contains exhibits of spacecraft.
Descent module of a Soyuz spacecraft. Charles Simonyi flew on this craft as a private spaceflight participant in 2009 on ISS Expedition 19/20. He later acquired the module and donated it to the museum.F-1 rocket engine of a Saturn V engine, the largest and most powerful rocket ever to reach operational status. It was used between 1967 and 1973 for the Apollo flights to the moon.This was the first production-line Apollo Command Module delivered to NASA. It was used as a test vehicle.This Lunar Roving Vehicle was built by Boeing as an engineering model for the rovers that transported astronauts on the moon.This Full Fuselage Trainer was built in the 1970s. It contained a kitchen and payload bay cameras and was used to habitability training for space shuttle astronauts.The living quarters were not available. This is the payload bay.A model of the Waste Collection System (toilet) used on the Space Shuttle. Although this astronaut must have been exhausted [he’s been standing there since the gallery opened in 2011], he agreed to pose with Jane.
The Aviation Pavilion features commercial and military aircraft from the 1930’s to the present.
Any Air Force aircraft that has the President on board is designated Air Force One. This Boeing 707-120C was the first presidential jet plane and was delivered in 1959.
She’s getting the wave right but could use some help with wardrobe.Cockpit in the Boeing 707-120C, the first presidential jet plane. It was delivered in 1959.Communications Center in the jet Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson used.Boeing’s CH-47D Chinook entered combat service during the Vietnam War in 1965. The museum’s Chinook was in active service from 1963-2019. Assignments included Air National Guard, combat missions in Afghanistan 2003-09, and aerial firefighting in the Okanogan Complex Fire in 2015.The A-4F Skyhawk was introduced in 1956. From 1975-86 it was flown by the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels). This one was built in 1967 and flew with the Navy in southeast Asia. The Gruman F-14A Tomcat began flying with the U.S. Navy in 1972. It is the aircraft made famous in the movie Top Gun. It was retired in 2006.This is the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which rolled out in 1987. Notice the heads-up display–the pink screen in front of the pilot’s seat which displays the aircrafts information.This Dreamliner made its first flight in 2010 and served as a test aircraft. D. B. Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 in November 1971. After landing he received $200,000 and the plane took off again with the entire crew in the cockpit. Cooper parachuted from the the plane and was not heard from again–until Dave ran into him at the Museum and became Cooper’s new best friend.
August 4, 2022 Vermont’s oldest geocache was closer to our campground near Albany, New York than our campground near Montpelier, Vermont so we treated it separately from other Vermont geocaches. Besides, it was harder to Read more…
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