National Museum of Naval Aviation

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As I mentioned in the last post, the Blue Angels were flying their 70th anniversary show on Friday and Saturday. We wanted to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation also on the Pensacola Naval Air Station and thought trying to do both on the same day would be difficult. So we headed to Pensacola on Thursday to see the museum.

We had run an errand in Pensacola before going to the museum and when we punched the address into the GPSr, it directed us to the east gate of the NAS base. There was a long line of cars waiting to get in so we assumed we were on the right path. We eventually got to the heavily armed guard but he told us we must enter at the west gate. So we turn around and find the west entrance on Blue Angel Parkway. The security was much lower key here and they told us to follow the signs to the museum about 3 miles away! Yes it is a very big base.

Front of the Museum

When we entered the museum, the volunteers manning the booth were checking bags. The guy we spoke to said that these security screenings and not being allowed to enter through the east gate had only been enacted recently. I suppose it was a small price to pay since the museum is free. The greeter also mentioned that the Blue Angels would be practicing at 2 PM and told us where we should go for the show.

As we started to wander the museum, we stopped at a display with 4 hand cranked movie players. Of course we needed to check them out. While playing with them, some guy comes up and takes a picture and then asks us a few questions. Apparently the display was new and the local newspaper was there doing a report on them. They fortunately didn't use picture of us but we did still get mentioned in the article - check out the link. Dawn of naval aviation exhibit opens

Great Paint Job

View from Above

The Viper Ready to Strike

This is a very large museum. Maybe not as big as the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum but in many ways the displays were more accessible than the ones in Washington DC. Not being an aficionado of planes probably means there is a lot of history here that flew right over our heads (so to speak). Every now and then we would see some older fellow talking to young kids about how something worked and you knew these guys had either flown on or had some involvement with similar planes in their past and likely explaining it to their grandkids.

Blue Angels in Formation

There were a handful of roving volunteers that would come up and ask if we had any questions. Initially we didn't but after seeing a few things we came up with some. One of the planes was so big it was clear it wouldn't fit through the doors so I asked if they built the building around the plane. The answer was no. The wings had been removed and then re-attached. We were also looking at one of the displays called the Optical Landing System but were not having much luck understanding it. The volunteer explained how it worked to aid pilots landing on an aircraft carrier. By showing us its operation, we now understand where the phrase "Call the Ball" comes from.

Where You Can Call the Ball

Like I mentioned, this museum permitted visitors to get in quite a few displays. Some of the planes were rather cramped and uncomfortable. A few things must have required much smaller human bodies just to fit in them.

Chris Ready for Takeoff

Jack and His Blue Angel

Just before 2 PM, we headed out of the museum to check out the Blue Angel practise session. There were probably a couple hundred people there including a tourist bus full. The sky was clear so the viewing was good. It was helpful having that many eyes scanning the sky since we often lost track of where the planes were.

Blue Angels Zipping By

Nice Loop

After we saw them land, we headed back into the museum to finish up one of the other buildings we hadn't visited yet. By then it was getting late in the afternoon and we were a bit tired so we headed out of the museum, but since there were a few more sights on the base to see we did a quick stop. The first stop was the Pensacola Lighthouse just down the road from the museum. Being tired, we weren't in the mood to climb the stairs to the top but we suspect the view would be great.

Pensacola Lighthouse on NAS Base

Fort Barrancas, a National Historic Landmark was our next stop which is also close to the museum. Unfortunately it was just about to close so the best we saw was out front of the building. Maybe we can get back here on some future trip.

Cannons at Fort Barrancas with Sand NOT Snow!

As we headed back to the campgrounds, we stopped at one of the beaches on the base to check out the view just before the sun set.