Miracle of America Museum, Polson, Mt. outside exhibits

Wow, what a museum and it only cost $6 per person.  The museum has an outside area and an inside area.  I could have taken over a thousand pictures and still would have missed something.  The outside area is composed of many buildings which have been moved from areas in Montana, there was a barber shop, beauty shop, garage, Montana Fiddler’s Hall of Fame, which was playing fiddle music, barn, school house, outhouse, garage, gas station, and so many more.  One building had a display of washing machines, vacuums, and other electrical equipment.  There was a building displaying lots of snow mobiles, a building which showed different milking machines, one building was full of farm equipment.   Then there were so many tractors, lots of old cars, military vehicles, including helicopters and a couple of jets.  Did I mention the general store?  The museum is located on the road to Glacier National Park, so if you go that way, be sure to take at least 2-4 hours for the museum, you will not be sorry you did so.  Their brochure says they have Americana, Homesteader (a sod house), wooden boats (the boat house), dolls and toys, clothing, music, antique cars, farm equipment, motorcycles (lots of Harleys), sleds and sleighs, militaria, steam engines (tractors), and wildlife mounts (2 headed even).  They also have a drug store soda fountain.  For more photos of the outside area, click here.

Tyler, Texas Air Show 2013

Wow what a show.  We were able to tour the museum and see  a B-17, B-24,P-51 Mustang, and a German Messerschmitt fly in to the show.  Before landing, the bombers flew right overhead.  Later, we were able to go on the bombers.  Met a lot of interesting people.  Lots of veterans.  We spent some time talking to a man who was 17 when he was captured and put into a German prisoner of war camp.  He told us how a German Messerschmitt flew over their camp.  This caused their moral to sink while the moral of the Germans rose.  The prisoners thought that the plane would help the Germans win the war.  He told us how he was freed when Patton’s tanks arrived at their camp.  He was very interesting to talk to.  Another man was there who was a co-pilot in a B-26 when a Messerschmitt flew right past them.  We were also able to see the planes that are part of the museum.  All in all, a fantastic day.

B-17 flying overhead

B-24 with a P-51 Mustang coming in

Messerschmitt coming in for a landing

co-pilot of a B-26 that met a Messerschmitt during WWII

He was a 17 year old prisoner of war when a Messerschmitt flew over his POW camp.

Messerschmitt

P-51 Mustang

b-17

Legacy of Flight Museum, Rexburg, Idaho

We are currently in a campground near Rexburg.  Looking for things to do, we found the Legacy of Flight Museum, so we thought we would check it out.  Really glad that we did.  The museum holds about 18 airplanes that are all flyable.  We had our own tour guide who told us the history of every plane.  There was also a small museum upstairs with stuff from the civil war to Operation Enduring Freedom.  Well worth our time.

Very rare find.

The P-51 was the first WWII fighter capable of escorting bombers all the way to Germany and back.

Bob Hoover’s Ole Yeller.  Bob set many records in this airplane.  The Smithsonian wants it, but they want to gut it and Bob doesn’t like that idea.

Legend has it that a Chicago bootlegger commissioned the Howard Aircraft Co., during prohibition, to build an airplane that could hold 15 cases of whiskey.  After he admired the craft as a “damn good airplane”, this Howard became known as the Howard DGA-15.

South Dakota Air & Space Museum

This is a small air and space museum.  Most of the planes are located outside.  The museum is free, however, we took a tour of the minute man missile training sites at Ellsworth Air Force Base.  That required payment.  We really did enjoy the tour though.  We though the museum was worth our time.

 

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Day 2

That’s correct, it took Gary and I two days to see all of this museum.  We also saw all of the IMAX shows, so maybe that is why it took so long.  But who could resist seeing the Hubble photos in 3D?

Amelia Earheart’s plane

first nonstop transcontinental flight

John Glenn’s space suit

worn on the moon on Apollo 15

Russian moon suit

Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base 2011

Gary and I took the metro to the air show.  There were two young boys, 6 or 7 years old, sitting in front of us on the metro.  We pass a cemetery and one boy says to the other, “That’s were people’s bodies go when they die, but the bad ones go to hell and the good ones go to heaven.” 
We really enjoyed the show, the first air show for us.  After going to the museums and seeing the warthog, corsair, mustang, and F-15, we enjoyed seeing these planes in the air doing all kinds of loops.
Thunderbirds and Golden Knights were there also.


warthog

F-15, Corsair, and warthog

just hanging in the air

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at Udvar-Hazy Center

Had to drive a-ways to see the Museum at Udvar-Hazy Center, but it was well worth the trip.  Museum was larger than we thought it would be.  Cost $15 to park the car, but the museum was free.  We did see a movie at the IMAX which made us feel like we were flying.  Had lunch at the McDonalds located there.

Concorde

19 year old built this helicopter

used to lead geese back to their homes

Pima Air Museum, hangar planes, 2011

Pima Air Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of our favorite places to visit.  We arrived around 9:45 am, should have gotten there earlier, and took the 10:30 am guided tour of hangar 1 and then stayed with our tour guide for tours of hangar 2 and 3.  Our tour started at the replica of the Wright brother’s plane with our tour guide providing lots of information about the brothers and the first flight.  The tour was free and only lasted 50 minutes per tour.  Tour was well worth the time-so much information for our minds to process.  Sure wish I could remember it all, oh well, there’s always next year.

Phantom-used by Thunderbirds in aerial shows.  Our tour guide flew phantoms.

Viet Nam era

Tom Cat-  Tom Cruise was in the movie “Top Gun” which featured the Tom Cat.

Black Bird   Huge plane

Pima Air Museum, outside planes, 2011

Wow are these planes huge!!!!!!  Many planes to see outside. Tried to imagine myself sitting in the pilot’s seat trying to land one of those giant planes.  We took the tram tour, $7 each, first.  Our driver gave lots of info about the planes we passed by.  Afterwards, I took a walking tour and tried to take pictures of all the planes; but alas, I ran out of time. Gary called me on the phone 3 times to tell me they were closing the place down.  Oh well, maybe next year I can take pictures of the planes I missed.

NASA astronauts nick-named this plane the “Vomit Comet”.  This was used to get the astronauts used to weightless they would experience in space.

one of the many migs.

 

Ardvark

One of the many B-52s

Wings of History, San Martin, Ca

Discovered an airplane museum in San Martin, Ca.  Gary and I had gone to San Martin to return an item at Camping World when we saw the sign for the museum.  Didn’t take long to go through the museum, about 30 minutes.  Great museum with private airplanes that were built from kits

 

Very small plane with very small engine.

part car, part helicopter.  Built in Mexico, it did manage to fly for about 5 miles.

side view

This is the front part of a plane which was owned by Ray Charles.  The museum could not afford to move the whole plane, so front half had to do.

Museum hours:  Tue & thur  10 to 3

            Sat & Sun   11 to 4

donation $5

www.wingsofhistory.org