Tuesday morning we were up early, pretty much stayed on Eastern time. Our objective was the National Naval Aviation Museum. It is located on NAS Pensacola and closed for a while during COVID. I had been there last in 1999. I did not remember much of it so it was like the first time mixed with some De Ja Vu.
As a side note, the Blue Angels are based out of NAS Pensacola and they flew their first demonstration flight on June 15, 1946 at Jacksonville’s Craig Field.
Since it is on the base you can’t just drive there directly. They make you use the West Gate which is on the other side of the base and adds about 10 minutes to the commute. At the gate we had our IDs ready and after a quick check, were on our way. The museum opens at 9 AM and we arrived just after.
It was pretty empty when we started but got progressively busier. The museum has several parts. The main floor has a section of propeller aircraft circa 1935-1955, early jets, and then the early propeller aircraft. Of special interst was the AF. My dad flew this aircraft and I have a video (converted from film) of him coming aboard the Princeton sometime around 1954. It was not the prettiest landing but he survived and I am here.
The next area is an event space hosting 4 blue angels in formation. Along the sides of the main floor are exhibits such as a movie and display of aircraft recovered from the great lakes. The main building has a second floor with more exhibits and planes at eye level. There is an additional large display hall that holds the more recent aircraft. Think Vietnam and newer.
They also have a gift shop where we picked up a gift for my dad and scored 2 free t-shirts. Why was it t-shirt day? Well apparently an order of shirts had a spelling error. It’s hard to spot and the staff was told to hand them out as bonuses so we have some slightly defective shirts now. Can’t wait to wear it and see if anyone spots the issue.
The Museum took us about 2.5 hours to complete. We headed back to the airport, again the long way as we felt it was best to not challenge federal authorities and crash a gate to save 5 minutes. We topped our rental car and then handed the FBO the keys. So far I have never flown off with the keys and I hope to keep it that way.
The FBO, Pensacola aviation, was pretty nice. We had the Yoo-Hoo on arrival, they had a bowl of Hershey's Kisses and a basket of snacks for us to partake of on departure. Our plane was a bit far out on the line and they even shuttled us over in a golf cart.
Pensacola International is large but not that busy. Ground had my clearance right away and with a strong South wind we had a long taxi. We had to wait to cross the active for a departure and an arrival which gave me time to complete my runup.
Reaching the end we were ready and released almost immediately. It had been clear by the beach but we had a layer on departure from 2800 to 4000 feet. After that it was smooth and we even enjoyed a tail wind. Yeah really!
Total engine run time was 1:48 with 1:36 in the air. Not bad for what is a 6+ hour car trip. Overall Pensacola is a nice little city. Out at the Beach the food is very touristy and it’s a bit Honkey Tonk but a nice get away.
No comments:
Post a Comment