| Heading south from Seattle toward Tacoma, just north of the
SeaTac airport, we found the Museum of Flight. There were a number of
aircraft parked outside including this US made Harrier. This was one the
marines hadn't bent. |
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 | Inside were all sorts of aircraft
including this replica of the original Wright brothers' plane. Three
replicas have been made which are absolutely faithful to the original
details and this one is the third. In the
background is a ubiquitous DC3 (surely an icon of flight) and the Gossamer
Albatross which was the first man-powered flight. |
| A centrepiece of the main display area was this SR71 Blackbird
which was used as a spy plane. It flew at Mach 3 at which point all sorts of
awkward things start happening to surfaces and materials. Hence the peculiar
shape. |
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 | This was a well laid out
display as shots like this show. The planes weren't always the most obvious
since they have been gathered from various other collections. The one in the
foreground here is a Northrop YF5A jet. |
| This is a Stinson seaplane, not a name I'd heard before but then
I'd not seen many seaplanes before either. But we have seen them in the skies and
even landing at this airport whilst we were there.. |
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 | This was also a Stinson. I
just picked it because the angle and colour were good. This has a radial
engine. |
| This is one of the more famous warplanes being a Phantom F4C
fighter bomber. Almost an icon.. |
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 | Besides the main display area,
there were two other areas covering the two World wars. This was a Curtiss
Warbird with the paintjob just like in the movies. |
| This was a Sopwith Triplane from the first World War. Not as well
known as the Fokker which was flown by Baron von Richthofen. The Sopwiths were
good solid English warplanes although the triplane was not a major player. |
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 | There was also a small section of
the museum devoted to the Apollo manned missions. This was a lunar capsule
complete with a dummy crew. |
| There were a number of outside exhibits including a Concorde and
this, the first Boeing 747, number 001, built in 1966. Amazing that they are
still building them today almost 40 years later. |
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 | Another of the outside
exhibits was this former presidential aircraft (Air Force One). This one was
used by Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter (and Henry Kissinger). There were queues
for both this and the Concorde but we've been inside a Concorde. |
| We found it more interesting to watch the planes landing and
taking off from the airport. They ranged from this barnstormer which gave
flights and landed on a sixpence through a number of quite noisy Lear jets. |
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 | Next door was another Boeing factory which
was obviously connected to the AWACs. You can just see the characteristic
aerial behind the fence. I think the plane in the foreground is a modern
variat.. |
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