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Sunday, March 07, 2010

Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum

From Maderia Beach we motored back to Panama City Beach for a few days rest. Our tour of central Florida was the greatest and we covered most of the areas we had planned. In fact, with less than a month before our return to Nova Scotia there are only several more things on our list of things to do for this season.

One of them was to visit the Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum which took place last week. Pensacola is the home of the famous Blue Angels which most of us have seen at one time or another at air shows. Their practice was to begin in a couple weeks time and I only wish we could have been there for some of that action.

This museum is packed with history and airplanes. There are airplanes on the wall, hanging from the ceiling and so many on the floor you don’t know where to go or look. Airplanes from the bi-plane era to the present day space program carry you on a mind boggling journey.

Being a Navy show place, there are dozens of float planes, or sea planes as they are often called. Some look like a super large engine with a single float, while others are huge monsters that make you wonder how they could fly. There are many modern jets with fold up wings for carrier use, and others you may have only seen in movies, but were a part of history in years gone by.

Two levels of display keep you occupied for hours. On the upper deck you sometimes feel you are walking the decks and halls of a carrier, then you are suddenly deposited back into the forties, passing an old style kitchen, a 41 Ford and even a Coke machine that issued the product in bottles.

I highly recommend if you are in this area that you stop by the Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum. Whether you like airplanes or not, it will be time well spent.

-=One Day At A Time=-