First even in the Warhawk Air Museum's new extension

[QuietOne]

Last Saturday the museum hosted some representatives from the Navy. It was for Fleet Week.

As you can see, the exhibits have changed!


The AT-6 was moved from its spot to make room for a visiting Skyraider.


The person who brought the Skyraider also brought a TBM Avenger. The first President Bush flew one of those.


A view from the outside of the new extension.


And a view down the hangar of the Skyraider.

[QuietOne]

The weather wasn't cooperative enough for most of the planes to fly. The wind was very gusty. I got to the museum as the last flight of the day landed, with the exception of the Leapfrog team's plane (much larger and heavier. Didn't get shots of it on the ground, since it wasn't parked near the museum). But Jeff had his Texan towed over to join the displays.

[QuietOne]

Another one of the display engines.



The Huey was there, though they haven't got it to the point where people can get into it.



Chrysler badge. The owner says it's never been restored. You can see the condition of the paint.

[QuietOne]

The Avenger had instructions and labels painted all over the place. I would have thought this one was obvious, but that's just me.



Someone (my guess is JC) put this on the MIG while it was in the maintenance hangar. It wasn't removed before the plane was moved to the exhibit area. But doesn't every plane restoration project need a rubber chicken in a polka dot bathing suit?



Tony and Sue taking a quiet moment before the exchange of memorabilia with the Navy reps. Sue is the museum's director.

[QuietOne]

The Leapfrog team did a jump and afterward hauled their gear into the museum to repack the chutes. They got lots of help from the kids.

Resetting the pilot chute.


Answering questions.


Hanging onto the pilot chute so the diver can deal with the line to it.


Getting the lines untangled enough to lay the chute down.

[QuietOne]

One way of untwisting the line.



The packs are really pretty small. So how do you get the excess air out of the fabric? Yes, really. They were all doing it.





And of course they let the kids try the chutes on. They're apparently not too heavy and are quite well balanced.

[QuietOne]

Some of the exhibits in the older hangar.

The classic parachute silk wedding gown. In this case, from a Japanese warehouse. The soldier who brought it back said that they were told they could take what they wanted. He took a never used parachute for the silk and a pair of leather pilot's gloves.







Badge from the Packard. It's really dark in that section when the hangar door is closed, and the exhibit cases had been moved around, so I gave up getting a shot of the whole car. The car comes complete with a picnic box in the back.

[QuietOne]

Detail of another of the aerial cameras.



You can try your hand at Morse code. The display even has a "teach yourself" phonograph record.

[QuietOne]

It wouldn't be complete without an exchange of mementos. Getting everyone there to line up turned out to be an exercise in herding cats. The Navy visitors were having too much fun looking at the displays. The civilian standing next to Sue is her husband, John. His love of the planes is what eventually led to the museum - he had several planes out in Caldwell and people kept giving him all sorts stuff from the era. And not just plane stuff.

[edG]

very cool set - very nicely captured