The day started with a continental breakfast. There was cereal, sausages, eggs and hot sauce. I’ve been looking for hot sauce and I finally found it. I had my long awaited eggs with hot sauce and got ready for our trip to the museum across the street. Andrew Irvine and I volunteered to load the luggage on the bus. We received top class instructions from our bus driver and officially became the baggage handling instructors. After the loading the bus, we drove to the National Air Force Museum.
The museum consisted of three giant hangars full of aircraft from WWI up to the Cold War and missiles/rockets. We were given meeting times by Capt. Wagner at the Atrium and we were let loose like sheep. This place was like a sweets factory for my aviation soul; there were so many eye candies for me to indulge. I paired up with Hussein and went on our adventure. Our plan was to go to the space exhibition first then move back in time. That plan went horribly wrong as we zipped through the WWI section and came back to where we started. He and I sighed and decided to do it the normal
way.
I went completely crazy with pictures. Both my tourist instinct and my photography passion kicked in at the same time making me the photo maniac in the building. I would sit down on the floor with my camera and my head three inches off the ground and sometimes I would have the camera high above my head while on my toes to get some shots of those pesky tail-draggers. The lighting was a real pain in the rear end. The hangar was a bit dim and the spotlights shining into the lens were like flash bombs. Getting the right angle while covering up the glare was tricky and awkward but it resulted in some great shots ike the one below.
The museum consisted of three giant hangars full of aircraft from WWI up to the Cold War and missiles/rockets. We were given meeting times by Capt. Wagner at the Atrium and we were let loose like sheep. This place was like a sweets factory for my aviation soul; there were so many eye candies for me to indulge. I paired up with Hussein and went on our adventure. Our plan was to go to the space exhibition first then move back in time. That plan went horribly wrong as we zipped through the WWI section and came back to where we started. He and I sighed and decided to do it the normal
way.
I went completely crazy with pictures. Both my tourist instinct and my photography passion kicked in at the same time making me the photo maniac in the building. I would sit down on the floor with my camera and my head three inches off the ground and sometimes I would have the camera high above my head while on my toes to get some shots of those pesky tail-draggers. The lighting was a real pain in the rear end. The hangar was a bit dim and the spotlights shining into the lens were like flash bombs. Getting the right angle while covering up the glare was tricky and awkward but it resulted in some great shots ike the one below.
One interesting attraction was the fighter jet dogfight simulator. Now, this simulator wasn’t your Microsoft Flight Simulator X. This was one that tilted back and forth and rolled a full 360 degrees. Hussein and I bought tickets for $7.50 each and we entered the simulator with very little practice thinking ‘We’re air cadets. We can fly this thing.’ Gunner WO2 Hussein Merchant went in first and Pilot WO2 Andrew Kim followed. We were strapped in, shoulder bars came down and the simulation started. I slowly rolled the aircraft and felt the movements of the machine. After feeling that sensation, I looked at my gunner, looked at the screen and said “I’m doing a barrel roll.” I jerked the joystick to the left and the simulator rolled instantly. It was like a rollercoaster that I was controlling. After doing some barrel rolls, loops and dives, we started on our mission: to shoot down planes. In total we shot down seven bogies and left the simulators
thinking that we did well. That is until we heard about Julian and Capt. Wagner’s 12 kills.
After the flight, I went off to see the rest of the museum. I looked at the bombs and found this particular Bolt-117 Laser guided bomb quite interesting. It was made by Texas Instruments.
thinking that we did well. That is until we heard about Julian and Capt. Wagner’s 12 kills.
After the flight, I went off to see the rest of the museum. I looked at the bombs and found this particular Bolt-117 Laser guided bomb quite interesting. It was made by Texas Instruments.
Who knew Texas Instruments made laser guided bombs. I genuinely thought they only made graphing calculators. After the astounding discovery of TI’s weapon development, I went and found myself a naked F-86 Sabre.
As an aspiring aeronautical engineer, I have to say “that’s one sexy piece of machinery”. I drooled over that display for a long time before I realized that everyone was leaving the area.
We went to eat lunch at the Valkyrie Café upstairs. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, beef and bean soup and pretzels with hummus. Everything was ok but the pulled pork sandwich was simply amazing with a little bit of pickled jalapenos. After lunch, I went back down to the hangars and came back to the atrium for an IMAX movie. The movie was about
US Military’s contribution to the Haiti earthquake.
When we received the movie ticket we got a dollar off the flight sims. Hussein and I used that opportunity to get on the Flight sim once more and improve our score. This time, we weren’t lollygagging around doing flips and rolls; this was serious business. I was once again the pilot and he was the gunner. We were miraculously able to take down 16 planes making us triple ace pilots. Now we were satisfied.
We left the museum at around 4:30 and as I was going to take a picture of the outside of the building, my batteries ran out. The camera fulfilled its duties to the very end. We arrived at Cracker Barrel in Greenfield Indiana at about an hour and a half to eat dinner. I ordered a half pound of fried shrimps along with corn, mashed potato, grilled apples and something called hushpuppies. Hushpuppies were like seasoned dough or mashed potato, breaded and fried. I quite enjoyed it despite not knowing what it was.
There was an in-store gift shop at Cracker Barrel. I bought a bag full of diabetes (candy sticks) and sat on one of the many rocking chairs outside. We arrived at Comfort Suites at 8:50, much later than scheduled. We had our daily debriefing and we headed for the rooms. Today, my roommate was Andrew Irvine. He and I felt the need to burn all those excess calories before bed. We had a little competition where Andrew did one
push-up, then I did two, he did three etc. We did the same with sit ups. Both of
us ended up doing about 60 push-ups and about 120 sit ups each. That was out
little workout session for the night.
Tomorrow we head off for
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We’ll then go to Illinois for the night.
We went to eat lunch at the Valkyrie Café upstairs. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, beef and bean soup and pretzels with hummus. Everything was ok but the pulled pork sandwich was simply amazing with a little bit of pickled jalapenos. After lunch, I went back down to the hangars and came back to the atrium for an IMAX movie. The movie was about
US Military’s contribution to the Haiti earthquake.
When we received the movie ticket we got a dollar off the flight sims. Hussein and I used that opportunity to get on the Flight sim once more and improve our score. This time, we weren’t lollygagging around doing flips and rolls; this was serious business. I was once again the pilot and he was the gunner. We were miraculously able to take down 16 planes making us triple ace pilots. Now we were satisfied.
We left the museum at around 4:30 and as I was going to take a picture of the outside of the building, my batteries ran out. The camera fulfilled its duties to the very end. We arrived at Cracker Barrel in Greenfield Indiana at about an hour and a half to eat dinner. I ordered a half pound of fried shrimps along with corn, mashed potato, grilled apples and something called hushpuppies. Hushpuppies were like seasoned dough or mashed potato, breaded and fried. I quite enjoyed it despite not knowing what it was.
There was an in-store gift shop at Cracker Barrel. I bought a bag full of diabetes (candy sticks) and sat on one of the many rocking chairs outside. We arrived at Comfort Suites at 8:50, much later than scheduled. We had our daily debriefing and we headed for the rooms. Today, my roommate was Andrew Irvine. He and I felt the need to burn all those excess calories before bed. We had a little competition where Andrew did one
push-up, then I did two, he did three etc. We did the same with sit ups. Both of
us ended up doing about 60 push-ups and about 120 sit ups each. That was out
little workout session for the night.
Tomorrow we head off for
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We’ll then go to Illinois for the night.
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