National Air and Space Museum

This past weekend, my family and I got to travel to Virginia to spend some time with some family up there.  They live just outside of Washington, D.C., so one day, a few of us went to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which is located just next to Dulles International Airport.  It was a blast.  Here are some of the pictures...

P-51 Mustang, with Boeing 707 and Grumman F8F Bearcat in bottom right corner under the wing of the 707.  Also on the right above the 707 is a J-3 Cub.

View of about half of the museum.  Notice a P-38 half in the foreground, B-29 on the right, and a whole host of others throughout the picture.

Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the two atomic bombs to end World War 2.

Boeing 707 in the fore, with a Concorde in the rear.  There is also a Boeing 307 on the right.

Boeing 707 with a Grumman Gulfhawk overhead.  Notice the J-3 to the left.  I think this 707 is the first one made...it was used for lots of testing; it has all sorts of little hardmounts all over it to accomodate things attached to it.  

The Boeing 307 in Pan American Airways livery.  This is the last surviving 307 Stratoliner, of which only 10 were produced.  Pan Am owned three of them, and my grandfather flew as crew on them as a Radio Operator.  It's really neat to see this airplane in such beautiful condition and know that, in some way, the aviation heritage of the Roberts family is being preserved for the world to see.  There are more pictures of the 307 below.

Here's the space program section of the museum, where you are greeted by the space shuttle Enterprise.  

It is fantastically HUGE.  It really is amazing to see the space shuttle this close.  I think I remember the information saying that the Enterprise never did actually make it into space, but was the testing platform for the rest of the space shuttle program.  Still very impressive.

F-35, the next generation fighter.  Note the Vietnam-era Cessna hanging overhead.

For all those round engine-lovers out there...nothing like a twin radial.

And for those turboprop-lovers...this is the T56, the engine that powers the C-130 Hercules.

HA!  I knew I could find a Twin Otter somewhere...even if it was in a picture.

Lockheed Super Constellation in U.S. Air Force paint, serving with the West Virginia Air Guard.  This airplane sure is a beauty.

Beech 18.  I worked on one of these a little bit in A&P school.

Here's another large scale shot of the museum.  The Concorde in the front, the 307 on the left, 707 on back right.  Beyond the 307 is a Junkers JU-52.  On the right, in front of the Concorde's wing, you can spot the tail of Bob Hoover's Twin Commander.  There is also a PA-14 Super Cruiser hanging, along with a host of small general aviation aircraft.

My dad and I with two of my kids standing in front of the Boeing 307, Clipper Flying Cloud.  It sort of feels like a three-generation picture...

What else can I say...

Great looking airplane...

Pan American Airways, "The World's Most Experienced Airline."

This is the only DC-3 they had in the museum...oh, well.

My uncle and my dad with my kids, standing up in the observation tower, looking out over Dulles International Airport.

There are huge lists outside the museum of people who, in some fashion or another, were a part of the museum or aviation in general and are being honored for their dedication to aviation.  If you follow my uncle's finger point, you will see his name and my grandfather's name below his.  It is an honor to me to be a part of such an aviation rich family.  I am honored to carry on the tradition.

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