From MemoryArchive
The Trip
During my senior year of high school, a friend and I visited New Orleans for spring break. A year later while we were both attending the University of Iowa and Hurricane Katrina hit the area, we spent five days of our winter break helping to clean it up. After a week of hard work, we spent a weekend of relaxation in beautiful Pensacola, Florida. The main reason I chose Pensacola: the National Museum of Naval Aviation
Driving
F-14 at the museum's entrance
While the sprawling paradise of Pensacola is home to many great attractions - pristine beaches, the Gulf Breeze zoo, etc., they are all easy to travel too, being within or on the boundaries of the city. This is not the case for the Naval Aviation museum. When we went there on our second day in town, we started off with a long drive (around 20 minutes) from our hotel in search of the museum. We had directions and were following them, but it was taking longer than we thought it should. We pulled into a gas station to ask directions, only to find out we were on the right path. After another 20 minutes, we found the
entrance to the museum's grounds. After passing a military checkpoint, it was another 5-10 minute drive to the actual museum through lands which I can only assume were used for something civilians like me don't need to know about. Finally, after what seemed like an long time, we got to the museum and were welcomed by the F-14 Tomcat protecting the entrance.
The Museum
Inside the museum I was definitely not let down by the plane inventory. The entrance to the museum featured restored planes, modern planes in beautiful condition, and carefully constructed models of carriers and their planes. While this display was impressive, for me the best was in the dimly-lit wing of historic aircraft. My favorite was most likely the MiG-15 Fagot, one of the planes that helped usher in the age of jet fighters. Impressive also was the collection of carrier-based aircraft of the Second World War, such as the Hellcat, Wildcat and Corsair.
While the planes impressed me, the other exhibits did not. The "flight simulator" was nothing more than a glorified movie where the seats would periodically shake a little, and the IMAX's cost paired with the selection and showtimes did not entice us. Getting to sit in a couple cockpits (like the F-18 shown) was fun, but too many parents hogging the cockpits to put their five year olds into them made the experience a lot less fun. Overall though, I really enjoyed the visit.
