Paul and I visited the Air & Space Museum which is divided into many galleries with exhibits
emphasizing the contribution San Diego has made to aviation. In 2005 the museum became affiliated
with the Smithsonian Institution and is one of only ten aerospace museums in
the country with such affiliation. Sections include the entry Rotunda, Special
Exhibit area, World War I Gallery, Golden Age of Flight Gallery World War II
Gallery, Modern Jet & Space Age Gallery and the Pavilion of flight. There are also a number of early
aviation exhibits hanging from the ceiling. Several aircraft engines are on display.
A
reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis is in the entry Rotunda.
In the large central pavilion there are several large
aircraft overhead that include the Consolidated PBY-5ACatalina,
Mikoyan-Gurevick MIG-17, Mercury spacecraft (mock-up), Bell AH-1E Cobra and
Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor. There is
also the Wee Bee, once considered the world’s smallest plane.
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| The Wee Bee |
 |
Ford 5-AT-B Trimotor
|
 |
| A Gee Bee racing plane |
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| Another view of the Gee Bee |
In the Golden Age gallery there are
examples of barnstormers, air mail pilots and the first airlines of the Twenties and Thirties.
 |
| stunt man catching onto ladder from plane |
In the World War II gallery there are examples of the Flying
Tigers that flew over China to the carrier pilots over the Pacific. A recent addition is the Nazi Horten 229
flying wing. Never in production
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| Horten 229 Flying Wing mockup to measure stealth characteristics |
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| Apollo XVII mockup |
The Modern Jet and Space Age Gallery features a replica of a Gemini
spacecraft, and a mock-up of the
Apollo Command and Service module seen above and a moon rock from Apollo XVII in the case below.. There is also a Douglas A-4B Skyhawk and a Hornet “Blue Angel1” in the gallery.
The current special exhibit was about innovations by
Leonardo da Vince which also included reproductions of several of his paintings
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| A robot in armor |
Da Vinci's military tank design
Paul and I visited the Air & Space Museum which is divided into many galleries with exhibits
emphasizing the contribution San Diego has made to aviation. In 2005 the museum became affiliated
with the Smithsonian Institution and is one of only ten aerospace museums in
the country with such affiliation. Sections include the entry Rotunda, Special
Exhibit area, World War I Gallery, Golden Age of Flight Gallery World War II
Gallery, Modern Jet & Space Age Gallery and the Pavilion of flight. There are also a number of early
aviation exhibits hanging from the ceiling. Several aircraft engines are on display.
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