Sunday, November 1, 2015

It was another gloomy one, so a short road trip to Pensacola was the order of the day.  At the visitor center, we found directions to one of the only places where dogs were allowed on the beach.

Sam really wasn't much of a fan of the sand between his toes or he didn't like the look of those clouds so it was a short walk.  It was not a hard sell to get us back to the car since the clouds were spitting a little rain.

A visit to the Naval Air Museum required entry onto the base. It was lucky Joani had her ID (she doesn't always carry one) or we would have been turned away. From the parking area, the museum appeared small, but that was some kind of optical illusion because it was really quite large inside.

Below was the NC-4, the first Navy aircraft to cross the Atlantic. It was designed during WWI to search for submarines but never saw service before the end of the war. "The mammoth wooden hull . . . supported wings that stretched to 126 feet. Four Liberty V-12 engines fed from tanks containing 1,891 gallons of gasoline provided 1,600 horsepower, enabling a top speed of 85 miles per hour when the aircraft was at its fully loaded weight of 28,000 lb." With no mufflers, it had to make a lot of noise, but even more surprising to me was that our motorhome weighed two tons more than this airplane fully loaded!.

I cannot imagine just how terrifying it would have been to operate an antiaircraft gun while incoming planes were strafing your ship during World War II.

The PBY Catalina Flying Boat display was extremely well done. Below the suspended aircraft, a cutaway of the fuselage allowed you to see all of the aircraft workstations. There were even sleeping cots for the large crew.

A TBM Avenger, like the one below, was piloted by our first president Bush during WWII. By contrast to the NC-4 above, the single engine on this plane produced 1,900 hp and achieved a maximum speed of 276 mph.

The old Plymouth, below, was just a staff car during WWII but you have to love the lines and that style!

With the overcast skies it wasn't too warm outside for Sam, but since he was patiently waiting for us we decided to save the large hanger filled with newer aircraft for another day.