Post for My Dad

 And for anyone else that likes planes!

We went to Udvar-Hazy, the Air and Space Annex, where they keep their BIG stuff in one ENORMOUS hangar.

Stuff like this SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest plane on Earth.

And this rather famous B-29 Super Fortress.

And over 100 other aircraft!

Look familiar?

 They actually had a lot of civilian aircraft as well, including a Concorde (did I mention it's a really BIG hangar?).

The kids were fascinated by the Cold War era fighter jets






 But my favorites are in the WWII section (WWI planes are a close second). My Dad was an aircraft spotter after the end of the war.  They literally put teens in towers to report aircraft.  They would report their tower, the type of plane and it's heading.

Since my Dad was a kid in WWII,  he grew up singing a lot of songs from the war, and then he sang then to us, too.

Seeing a real P-38 Lightning was a thrill!

NO
don't give me a P-38
the props, they counter-rotate
they're scattered & smittin'
from Burma to Britain
don't give me a P-38
NO

Give me operations
way out on some lonely atoll
for I am too young to die
I just wanna grow old!

Just be warned, if you go looking for it on the internet, some of the other verses have some saltier language. I think my Dad skipped those with us!

And then there's the space wing of the hangar (I told you it was BIG, right?), the centerpiece of which is the space shuttle Discovery, the shuttle with the most missions flown.

What is truly awesome about seeing Discovery is that they didn't clean her up.

Walking along her side, you can see all the re-entry scorching on her underbelly.

It really is awe inspiring!




They have a lot of satellites, parts and modules of space stations, rockets, and re entry vehicles, but the kids definitely found the shuttle the most fascinating.

We were too tired out from walking the hangar to do the airport control tower.

The main hangar has three levels to see the planes from different angles, so I think we walked several miles (did I say it was BIG?), but it was a beautiful day and a lot of fun.

I'm sure we'll be back!