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Air/Space Craft
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Cradle of Aviation Museum Part I
Picture Source: Me with my trusty Canon Elf Digital Camera*
It is said that the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island in New York State is second only to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. I decided to take a trip there and I'll let you decide if that statement is true. We drove up to the building complex in Mitchell Field and this is what we saw:
The complex is composed of a beautiful main building with one hanger on the left and two hangers on the right. These are old hangers from the time when Long Island was the aviation capital of the country and maybe the world.
As you enter the main building you notice that there are several interesting planes hanging from the ceiling. We saw a tiny helicopter, a jet that was used by the famous Blue Angels, a Biplane and what looked like a World War I fighter. There is also an IMax theater entrance and a ride called Mars that simulates flying into the sun and returning. We didn't get burned when we flew so it must have been night time. We went up the stairs to the second floor when the entrance to the main display area is. The area is very large and may be connected to the hangers on the right. Early powered flight appeared first. It also contained balloons and air ships.
Pictures 1 - 17 1,2,3 - Early Gliders and balloons, 4 - An air cooled motor from a Glenn Curtiss Airship, 20 horsepower, 5 - Model of bike with flapping wings, 6 - Early plane at the Hempstead Plains Air Meet, 7 - Some onlookers to the Air Meet, 8 - Early Monoplane with female pilot, 9 - Early plane with 3 cylinder rotary engine, 10 - Curtis Jenny, 11 - Another early monoplane, 12 - Official Auto, 13 - This old job hangs over your head when you walk through the exhibits, 14 & 15 - Old Engine Exhibits, 16 - Machine Gun used for practice from planes, 17 - Old wooden and fabric biplane. Notice the skids instead of wheels. The next thing we looked at were the planes from about World War I up to the jet area.
Spirit of St. Louis As you are walking through all the planes you are confronted by, of all things, The Spirit of St. Louis. We all know the plane is in the museum in Washington so how could it be here, is it a reproduction? A guide explains that this is the real McCoy and so is the other one. He says that two were built but the one that flew the Atlantic is the other one. I sort of think this is the plane from the movie!
Pictures 18-27 18 - U.S. Army Glider WW II, 19 - Convair 340 cockpit, 20 & 21 - Grumman Avenger, 22 - Grumman G63 Kitten, 23 - Biplane, 24 - Biplane, 25 - Republic Thunderbolt, 26 & 27 - Pan Am Flying Boat *My camera is small and doesn't have a powerful flash so some of the pictures are dark. |
