The Museum of Flight - Seattle

Darren Wright

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On vacation this week in Seattle, my son and I went to The Museum of Flight. What a great exhibit they have. Originally I was mostly wanting to see the wood shop and some of the tools there, but turned out to be a whole lot more to see than I had anticipated. We ran out of time as it wasn't a planned trip and got there late, so I missed a couple of floors of exhibits as well.

Here are my photos, I tried to get a plaque picture just after each plane pic to show what they were. I was excited to see the Goodyear Corsair, as my grandmother worked at the factory where they made assembly parts for them during the war.

https://goo.gl/photos/6keBXoDkkKzjBrHe7


One interesting fact I learned from one of the curators we spoke with, was you'll note on the wood lathe, there is a furniture leg. He mentioned that after the war, the airplane contracts dried up, but Mr. Boeing wanted to keep his workers employed, so they made furniture for a short time. :thumb:

I was told that the restoration shop up in Everette is open for tours as well. They typically have 4 restorations going at once there and have acquired a B52 bomber that is being restored and will eventually be moved to the museum. Of course, as part of I believe the "Treaty on Open Skies" it has to stay parked outside where it can be seen from satellite by other parties that signed the treaty and see that it is indeed not being used.
 
Wow wow wow. Thanks for sharing very good pics. Definitely a 3 day visit place.

What a quality museum. Love the way they have access to exhibits. I gotta plan a visit to it. Been to many like it, but this looks to me like it tops the others. The Smithsonian Air Space in Washington cant touch this in my view and the Tucson Pima air museum can be unpleasant if you happen to visit on a really hot day. But the collection you show is unrivaled in my opinion.

Now as a New Canadian, I have to point out they missing a key plane that should not be forgotten for its role it played in the development of fighter jet engines....Avro Arrow. I think USA benefitted from it being shut down as a program through the engineers involved moving across the border to continue jet engine development.

Interesting about your Grandma, building Corsairs, my Mom was a quality inspector for Spitfire parts in the war. She was not popular with the girls who were operating machines and being paid piece work when she rejected a part.

I never ever heard of the existence of the Blackbird drone version. Man the Blackbird captures my mind as the all time best plane developed. At Tucson they have theirs in a hangar and you can get real up close. Its some serious engineering piece.

As a youngster in my teenage years, with NO tv :) i spent my pocket money on model plane kits and build most of the WW 2 planes that were available on all sides. It really was educational. Cant help but feel today that kids are being robbed of a life by Pokemon and a "Smarphone".

I always loved the look of the Phantom fighter and still think if i were a general one of my weapons of choice in a battle would be that cruise missile. It sure as served well to be able let the enemy have from afar.

Great pics sorry to hear you had so little time there. Nothing beats actual visit to these places, i prefer going to them on my own as Linda would rather be frying on a beach so imagine how fast a tour of a place like this is done lol.
 
Thanks for sharing this Darren. As a retired AF pilot, I'm always interested in another aviation museum. My favorites are Smithsonian Air & Space (both facilities) - Washington, D.C., Air Force Museum - Dayton, OH, and Frontiers of Flight - Dallas. There are 3 other aviation museums in the DFW area if you get down this way sometime.
 
I missed the drone at first, getting caught up in the picture of the P-38 and remembering the Greenland recovery effort a few years ago (and wondering if that was one of them).

I do have to wonder though, how much of that drone plane, is the father of their automated micro shuttle the military/intelligence uses.
 
I had been in Seattle several times and missed that. Wanted to go but there wasn't time. I was on Uncle Sam's nickle so he was calling the shots on get to do or don't. Of course there were other places where I had that same dilemma. Oh, well. All I can do now is think on it and pout I guess. My traveling days are over for me. Done enough of it already. Maybe. :D
 
Great pictures, Darren, and a great recommendation - it will go on my bucket list.

For years the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington was my favorite. Then I discovered their relatively new annex 25 miles away at Dulles Airport - WOW! (It is free as are all Smithsonian museums, but the parking, as I recall, was $15 - Dulles is not yet accessible by Washington Metro). Among it's 3000 aircraft are the Space Shuttle Discovery, The SR71 Stealth 2000 mph plane, The first 707 (before it was called 707), Air France Concorde, the actual Enola Gay (of Hiroshima fame).

Somebody else did a pretty good summary at
http://www.airlinereporter.com/2015...ir-space-udvar-hazy-museum-at-dulles-airport/
 
Wow wow wow. Thanks for sharing very good pics. Definitely a 3 day visit place.



As a youngster in my teenage years, with NO tv :) i spent my pocket money on model plane kits and build most of the WW 2 planes that were available on all sides. It really was educational. Cant help but feel today that kids are being robbed of a life by Pokemon and a "Smarphone".

I always loved the look of the Phantom fighter and still think if i were a general one of my weapons of choice in a battle would be that cruise missile. It sure as served well to be able let the enemy have from afar.

Great pics sorry to hear you had so little time there. Nothing beats actual visit to these places, i prefer going to them on my own as Linda would rather be frying on a beach so imagine how fast a tour of a place like this is done lol.
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Interesting Rob I bought my Grandson a Model car kit and I don't think he ever took it out of the box...I am pretty pro tech but outside the so called makers very little interest in hands on stuff anymore.
 
What a great visit! I'll have to go there if and when....

I think that first plane is a Lockheed Constellation, no? I remember when Air Canada was still called Trans-Canada Airlines. They changed the name because it worked better in French. My mother flew to England in a four engined turboprop in 1958. Who knows? This could have been the plane.
 
Lockheed Constellation - Had pistons and spark plugs. Not a Turbo Prop.

The very tight engine cowling hides the radial cylinders and can easily be confused with a turbo prob.

Where did modern Air Traffic Control get started???? - Saturday, June 30, 1956 at 10:30 am Pacific Standard Time when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over the Grand Canyon. Up to this time it was see and be seen. Lot of air space out there and not many aircraft so chances where very good of not running into each other. Turns out chances were not good enough!

This crash changed all that and started the push for what we now know as Air Traffic Control.

I took a raft trip down the Colorado some years ago. We stopped and looked up to a high spot that looked like it was covered in diamonds. Lots of sparkling items. Guides asked what we thought it was. I surprised them saying pieces of aluminum from the above air accident. They said no one had ever mentioned that. They knew it was the correct answer.
 
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OK. I may be wrong about the turboprop thing. The only propellor driven aircraft with suitable range operated by TCA in 1958 was the Super Constellation. The Vickers Viscount turboprop was in service at the time but probably didn't have the range for a Transatlantic flight. Never mind, I'll just sit here in the corner and play with my worry beads.
 
wow Darren that quite a collection glad you took the tie to share. I visited the National Navel Air Museum in Pensacola Fl.in August and it too is a must see . I'll have to upload my picture and start a thread on my visit there when I get a chance.

Looking forward to seeing them. :thumb:

Lockheed Constellation - Had pistons and spark plugs. Not a Turbo Prop.

The very tight engine cowling hides the radial cylinders and can easily be confused with a turbo prob.

Where did modern Air Traffic Control get started???? - Saturday, June 30, 1956 at 10:30 am Pacific Standard Time when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over the Grand Canyon. Up to this time it was see and be seen. Lot of air space out there and not many aircraft so chances where very good of not running into each other. Turns out chances were not good enough!

This crash changed all that and started the push for what we no know as Air Traffic Control.

I took a raft trip down the Colorado some years ago. We stopped and looked up to a high spot that looked like it was covered in diamonds. Lots of sparkling items. Guides asked what we thought it was. I surprised them saying pieces of aluminum from the above air accident. They said no one had ever mentioned that. They knew it was the correct answer.

Wow, interesting story and turn of events, too bad it took the accident to happen for it to come to that, but seems to be par for the course.
 
Wow, interesting story and turn of events, too bad it took the accident to happen for it to come to that, but seems to be par for the course.

Like most new inventions, the history of aviation regulation, innovation, and control are written in blood. It took another midair collision over NYC in 1960 to really spur creation of an integrated air traffic control system. We didn't get full national radar coverage until the mid 70s. There are still a few uncontrolled airports in the US that have commercial air service. It's amazing how many areas of the world here there still is no radar coverage. The advent of satellite based navigation and communication have greatly enhanced aviation safety by making it easier to identify in position and time other aircraft in an area. Still it's safer than driving to the airport.
 
That first picture looks like an old Constellation... Back when I was still a ramp rat for TWA, I was assigned to a crew to load a jet engine on a "Connie"... the engine was on a steel skid, weighed about 6,000 lbs and was loaded into a rear cargo door, then slid forward to more or less amid ship.... we had to hang a concrete block off the nose to counter balance the plane while we loaded even thought it had a tail post. The floor was polished steel, no rollers, so were were using an electric tug come-a-long to pull the engine.... my job was to run the come-along, but the weight of the engine was such that I had trouble holding the handle down...I put all of my 150 lbs up on the handle with my knees bent to clear the floor... about half way up to where we wanted the engine, the handle gave way.... my knees hit the floor and went in opposite directions... guys don't generally do the splits and I am not Claude Van Damme..... wasn't sure I was going to walk off that plane....
 
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