Tag Archives: museum

Pungo

Continuing my theme of items related to the ISAP symposium, we took a trip to the Museum of Military Aviation at Pungo south of Virginia Beach. Actually, we took two trips to be accurate. The first was part of the symposium field trip and the second was after the symposium had concluded and was for the air show at the museum. Since they were preparing for the air show on the Friday of the field trip, I think it is fair to combine the two events into one posting.

Friday was a great day from a weather perspective except that it was quite windy and, more importantly from an aviating perspective, the wind was directly across the runway. This meant that not too much flying was going on. With a great collection of vintage military aircraft available, this was a shame. However, they were all laid out along the field to take a look at so we were able to get up close and personal with a bunch of cool aircraft.

One of the planned attendees for the show did appear but that is something I am going to save for another post. The show also included a lot of reenactors who had set up encampments around the site. For a lot of the group, this proved to be a good alternative to go and photograph. Normally, I am more than willing to photograph anything interesting or unusual but, for some reason, I didn’t get into this topic at all.

It is not that they weren’t worthy of photographing. If you look at the images that people got you can see some good work. My friend Jo recently blogged about this very topic here so you can see some of what was there. However, in this case it just did not seem to work for me so I spent my time wandering around other parts of the museum.

The Sunday of the show arrived with very unfavorable weather. Apparently the Saturday had been pretty good but Sunday had low clouds and rain when we got there. It appeared highly unlikely that it was going to improve but we waited it out for a while. The reenactors were out again so there was much for people to see but, since I was more bothered about the aircraft, I focused on them. A few extra aircraft had arrived since we had been there on Friday, my favorite being a Fairey Firefly that had come in from Canada. They were supposed to depart late morning for their trip home but sadly the weather got too bad to allow even that departure.

I certainly enjoyed seeing the various aircraft at the museum and there for the show. It was a shame they weren’t granted better weather as I’m sure their ticket sales will have suffered (although a surprising number of people continued to arrive while we were there) but hopefully they will have achieved enough to support the ongoing work of the museum. They certainly need to be commended for their efforts putting together the event.

Fort Eustis

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Hayman and I had a day free ahead of ISAP so decided to go exploring the areas around Norfolk. There is not a shortage of aerospace related museums in the area. With the military presence and NASA, plenty has happened nearby and so having enough to fill museum collections does not seem to be a problem!

One place we decided to check out was the museum of Army Transportation at Fort Eustis. The museum is located just inside the main gate and they are happy to have the visitors and make you feel most welcome. The museum obviously has more than just aircraft so you can see watercraft as well including some very large amphibious vehicles. There is also a rail section although that was being renovated while we were there and was closed off.

Since it is Army material in the museum, there are a lot of helicopters in the collection. Some fixed wing aircraft are also included but the really unusual things are the concept vehicles that never got off the ground – so to speak! Hover cars and research aircraft into vertical flight are included in the collection and make for an interesting sight.

One downside to the location is that the aircraft are housed under cover but with open sides. This is fine for the visitor unless they like to take photographs. If that is what you want, you will be fighting some harsh external lighting with subdues under cover lighting. However, them’s the breaks! The aircraft are in various states of restoration. Some have been recently repainted while others are awaiting the funds to have their turn. It is great to know that someone is taking care to make sure they are preserved.

If you find yourself up near Hampton and you have some spare time, pay them a visit. It will certainly be an interesting diversion.

Night Wanderings with Friends

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As I mentioned in a previous post, sometimes it is useful to have someone come to the city to encourage me to get out and about. A few friends had been to Chicago in a previous week to do some shooting but I had been tied up when they arrived. They were planning some evening shooting and I had been out all day and had plans for the evening so missed it. I was a bit disappointed but there you go.

Consequently, I was pleased to see that a few of them were planning to come back a few days later for another session. This time I was free so agreed to meet up. Some of the group that were coming I knew and others I hadn’t met before. I headed out to the Adler Planetarium – our meeting spot – and started taking some shots. A few guys were already there taking their own shots so I wandered over to find out if they were some of the people I hadn’t met before.

While it was true I hadn’t met them before, they were not part of our group. However, in common with many photographers, they were a friendly bunch a we chatted for a while. They had come to town from Texas and were looking to get as many things in to their trip so I suggested a few spots that they might like to try.

After a while the rest of the guys did show up – well, all but one who had wandered off on his own – and we started taking some pictures. The skyline was lovely as usual and we took some shots around the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. Then we headed across to Millennium Park. I’m becoming a regular.

Shooting around the Bean at night is good since the long exposures you need tend to make any of the other visitors disappear. You get a cleaner shot if you plan it right. We got a bunch of shots and then we started playing around with a flashlight. More of that to come!

Planes of Fame

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With a day to spare during my trip to Los Angeles, I wasn’t short of places to go that would satisfy the aviation fan within. One museum an hours drive from my hotel was on my list of places I really ought to have been to already. That was Chino’s Planes of Fame museum. With a better forecast than for the previous day in store, I made an early start.

The museum opened at 10am on Sunday’s and the drive was supposed to be an hour so I planned to arrive just as it opened. Traffic was playing ball and I did indeed get there just after the doors had opened. There were three cars in the parking lot. Mine, the person running the shop and one of the volunteers, Stephen Andridge, who arrived at the same time that I did. For the time-being, the museum was going to be mine.

Stephen said hello when I came into the shop and, since he didn’t have a tour booked until later in the day, he offered to wander around with me and show me the collection. This worked out very well for me. I could effectively do two tours of the facility. The first with Stephen would show me the sum of everything that was on site. The second would allow me to go back around with the camera and take the shots of the things that had caught my attention the first time.

Stephen and I ended up taking a long time as we went around the museum. There is plenty to see and we had a lot to talk about as we went around. We had nearly finished everything when he realized that the time was up for him to go and take his tour around. I have no idea where the time went to but I am certainly grateful to him for being such a great host.

The collection is certainly very varied. There are a range of vintage aircraft from the US with a lot of second world war aircraft as well as jets. However, other countries are well represented. There are a few old British aircraft that caught my eye as well as some rare Japanese aircraft. They also have a FW-190 built using components from a supplier in Germany. A Buchon is also undergoing restoration. I prefer 109s to have the original BMW engine but Buchons are still great to see.

There are other interesting bits in the collection. An original Bell P-59 Airacomet is undergoing restoration, possibly to fly. While it is historic as America’s first jet fighter, everything I have read about it says it was a pretty useless fighter. However, its place in history is important. Also in the hangar is the fake propeller that was mounted to its nose to disguise its, then secret, technology.

Most of the aircraft in the hangars are in great condition. However, one airframe is a wreck that was brought back from the jungle. I was impressed that, in this case, they chose to display it as it crashed. The layout with scenery around it and the airframe on the ground is pretty impressive and a great reminder of how so many aircraft actually ended up in those days.

There are some very significant aircraft also on display. One that caught my interest was the Douglas Skyrocket. One of the three airframes built is on display. A major part of the race to expand the speed envelope, the Skyrocket is often overlooked against the Bell X-1 series but it was the first aircraft to exceed Mach 2. I didn’t find out exactly what this particular airframe had done in the program but that hardly really matters compared to it being there at all.

Aside from the display aircraft in the hangars, there is also a boneyard in the museum. This includes a variety of aircraft including some more modern jet fighters. An F-104 from Belgium, an A-7 and F-8 facing each other, a Sabre, a Super Sabre (once a target tug at China Lake and missing some pieces as a result of a close call!), a Fury plus a bunch of disassembled airframes in racks. There were some Russian jets as well although the airworthy examples were off in Las Vegas for the Nellis show.

I have not even started to cover the collection here and there are plenty of other fascinating and noteworthy aircraft in the collection. I am not trying to provide a comprehensive overview. Instead, I hope I am providing enough temptation for you to consider a visit if ever you are nearby. If the ones I have mentioned are of interest, the rest of the collection will keep you happy for a day at least.

By the time I was done, a good chunk of the day had gone. I grabbed some late lunch at Flo’s across the field before heading back to the hotel. This had originally been part of my plan for the day but it was so enjoyable, it ended up being the whole day. I will be back, I am sure. I will definitely try and get to their annual show as well since that must be quite an event.

If you want to see more, go to the website at www.planesoffame.org.

Michigan Avenue Bridgehouse

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The Chicago tourist activities have been continuing. Another local attraction I have never been to – and this one has no excuse since I have known about it for ages and it is visible from my window! – is the bridgehouse for the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Chicago has a large number of movable bridges across the Chicago and Calumet rivers. A large number of them are bascule bridges. For those of you not familiar with French descriptions of bridges, bascule bridges are counterbalanced and rotate out of the way using very little power due to the excellent balance. (Bascule is French for seesaw.)

The museum is in the tower at one end of the bridge. It is a pretty small museum but it provides access to the mechanisms that move the bridge. This is something that interests an engineering type like me. I think they could have made things a little better though. There is very little lighting down there so it is hard to make out all of the parts of the machinery. They could also provide a bit more of a guide to this. As a photographer, the amount of fencing in the way is a nuisance but I doubt there is much they could do about that.

As a result of the relatively limited nature of the bridge, the rest of the museum is a history of Chicago, its rivers and the water supply. It certainly provides more to look at and is quite worth a look. There are also some slightly different views of the river. Since it was only $4 to get in, I think it was worth a look. Now to see how I can make some suggestions to them about improvements.

ISAP Field Trip – Part 1

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During the ISAP symposium, we had a field trip out. The first stop on the trip was the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Located in Balboa Park, this is one of my favorite parts of the city – even before including a museum with a bunch of aircraft. I had been to the museum quite recently during a separate trip to San Diego.

We had an excellent breakfast laid on for us as soon as we got to the museum. The journey from the hotel included a running commentary from our bus driver. He obviously missed his true vocation (I’m just not sure what that should have been!)

The museum is circular and has a nice courtyard in the center which is glazed. With a selection of interesting aircraft, it is a very pleasant place to hang out. I did just that for a bit of the time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. I also took a wandering around the museum. It is a touch tricky to photograph without a tripod since it is rather dark so I chose my subjects carefully.

Also, the basement area where much of the restoration work is done was available to us. This is normally off limits and provided an interesting place to explore. The people involved in the restoration were on hand and happy to chat.

Not a bad start to the day! More to come from the rest of the day…