The Sky Roared Yesterday Morning…

Jim says: Just about every Tuesday and Wednesday during the winter season the Blue Angels practice for about an hour starting at 8:30 AM. And they were really going at it! See my Blog entry of 4/08. It’s one thing to see the Blue Angels at the Naval Air Station here in Pensacola, Florida and quite another just wandering around the community and they fly by.

My motorhome is currently parked at the American Legion and the way that the crow flies (supposedly in a straight line), it’s only about two miles to the runway. As part of their practice the sometimes fly at only 50 feet above the ground when over the runway…upside down at 600+ miles per hour. Because sound travels a lot slower than light, by time you hear them, they are gone from sight. I managed to get these two photos standing by my motorhome.

Shortly after-wards I left to do my laundry and failed to bring my camera with me. I had a lot better views at the laundromat than I did at the motorhome. It was like my own private air show.

Anyways, on one particular pass very similar to this U.S. Navy photo…

They flew directly over the Laundromat, but they were a whole lot closer to the ground than this photo. So, on Tuesday and Wednesday Mornings in this area…the sky really roars!

In other news…
In preparation for my departure from my current location on Thursday morning, I spent some time with my maps plotting my route from Panama City, Florida (about 100 miles east of here), where I’ll turn more or less Northeast heading to visit friends in Summerton, South Carolina. I intend to take the back roads through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for the about 500 mile trip.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida – Day 1

Jim says: It was time to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Since the Blue Angels were practicing at 8:30 AM, I thought I go and watch them.

Before I even got into the Naval Air Station, I was already questioning my decision.

Several thousand people showed up to see the Blue Angels.

I figured there be some other people there, but not several thousand. Is no one working in Florida today? How come there are thousands of kids here?

Between the number of spectators, the low altitude and speed of the Blue Angels, it was next to impossible to get a photo.

In case you do not know who the Blue Angels are…they are a precision flying aerobatic team. Here’s their official website link…
http://www.blueangels.org/
Here’s a Wikipedia informational link about the Blue Angels…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels

The museum opened at 9:00 AM, so I decided to forget the Blue Angels as I had seen them before and I just knew all those kids were going to end up in the museum. So I went immediately to the second floor hoping all those kids would start on the ground floor. By 9:30 AM, the museum was crazy with kids. What was I thinking? Well, as long as I was there, I might as well stick it out. It ended up being a very long six hours. It took me that long to do the second floor. I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more without all those noisy critters.

Here’s a few photos of some of the things I saw yesterday…

A cut-away view of the intake of a jet engine.

The Museum is huge. A large open center area with two levels along the walls of the multi-sided building. There are more than 75 full-size aircraft and more than 200 models.

Here’s a Blue Angels poster depicting the different aircraft they’ve flown over the years.

There’s a wonderful gallery of naval aviation art.

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Here’s another of the more than 100 paintings

After practice, the Blue Angel pilots signed autographs…one was a female.

This World War II aircraft had some ferocious teeth!

A World War II recruiting sign.

In 1961, Navy Commander Alan Shepard rode this (replica of) Mercury 1 spacecraft on a 15 minute sub-orbital flight.

A space shuttle is docked with a space station. The vast majority of the Astronauts were first Naval Aviators.

To see the other 180 photos I took, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/NavalAirMuseumMDay1040710#/a>

Here’s the National Naval Aviation Museum official website link…
http://NavalAviationMuseum.org

Here’s a Wikipedia information link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Naval_Aviation

Here’s a Facebook link…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pensacola-FL/National-Naval-Aviation-Museum/71553655173

The second floor had the following exhibits…
* Home Front, USA,
* Cockpit Trainers,
* Flight Adventure Deck,
* Lighter Than Air,
* World War II Aircraft Carrier,
* Art Gallery,
* World War II South Pacific,
* Motion-Based Flight Simulator, and
* Space.

Well, I got the second floor done yesterday…so today I’m headed back to attack the ground floor. I’m hoping that since the Blue Angels are not practicing today that the only noise today will be that of other jet aircraft and not a herd of noisy kids. I guess I do not understand why parents do not keep a tighter rein on their kids. The atmosphere in the museum more resembled a playground with all the running around and screaming happening. All I know is that had my kids ( at their younger age) been there, they would not have been allowed to carry on in such a manner. It sounds like I’ve become a grumpy old man…which I don’t mind…as I’ve earned it!

Duh…it just struck me…the kids are out of school on Spring Break Week. How lucky can I be?

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com