Great trip: Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Hangar near Washington D.C.

[Yank44]

I went down to D.C. with my wife last week to see Hillwood's imperial Russian collection and the latest addition to the Air and Space Museum near Dulles Airport; the Udvar-Hazy Hangar. This is my fourth trip to D.C., so I made sure I went to the hangar this time. It was worth the trip just to get an up close look at Rickenbacker's uniform, SPAD XVI, Halberstadt, F.E.2B, Lafayette Escadrille uniform, first wireless communication devices, first aviation cameras, guages from Norman Prince's plane, period flying boots, helmets and goggles, numerous early engines (one Le Rhone YAY!), and more.

I never realized how massive the Space Shuttle was before until I was standing under the fuselage. There were many rockets and satellites, a German Arado jet from WWII, part of the cockpit from the German flying wing (the one with jet propulsion), Focke-Wulf, the now fully-restored B-29 Enola Gay, F4U Corsair and Corsair II, P-47 Thunderbolt (jug), P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, the new JSF, Grumman F6F Hellcat (my first love), Mig 21 and 15, F-80 Sabre, F-4 Phantom (I forgot to see if it was gun-modified or not), Hurricane, T-33, Peashooter, P-40 Warhawk, Westland Lysander, early airmail bi-plane, SR-71 (with chines), Lindberg and Earhardt memorabilia, sportcraft, helicopters, Concord, S-307 Stratoliner, experimental aircraft, and much more. That was just off the top of my head. I had to get a picture of a panzershreck for my much younger brothers because they didn't believe it really had that giant face-shield on it. LOL

I have pictures if any of you are interested. I have about 100 or so, so you can see them upon request. I will post whatever you want to see. BTW, the simulators were really fun. My wife was a real trooper in the gunner seat. I had her hanging upside down half the time and she still managed to shoot down three enemy planes! The tower is worth the elevator ride up because you can watch the planes landing and taking off while listening to live transmissions between ATC and the planes. The IMAX movie "Fighter Pilot" is also worth seeing. It is basically a seven nation war-game with great aerial shots of F-15's, F-16's, F-18's, Tornadoes, Harriers, A-10's giving armor a bath in 30mm rounds, one search and rescue mission, and more.

Here's a link to the hangar:

National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

BTW, Hillwood is amazing if any of you like imperial Russian material. Here's a link:

Hillwood Art Collections

[Yank44]

Even better, somebody already posted a blog with pictures of many of the airplanes I mentioned already. Here's the link:
Whit on the Road: December 13 -- Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, VA

If you want to see anything I mentioned above, leave a post and I'll post a pic.

[stephen]

I went there last spring with the OTF seminar and was really impressed. You have greater access to the displays there than at many other museums, which I really liked. It was a lot of fun.

[Der Grüne Flieger]

Could you post anything you have on the Albatros DVa??

Thanks,
Phil

[Yank44]

Originally Posted by Der Grüne Flieger

Could you post anything you have on the Albatros DVa??

Thanks,
Phil

I don't recall there being an Albatros there, unfortunately. Sorry.

[David_Layton]

The Albatros is hanging at the Air & Space. I would really like to see the Voisin brought to the U-H as you cannot see much of it at the NASM. I guess that will have to wait untile they redo the gallery as the Voisin takes up most of the ceiling of the gallery.