Concorde

The Concorde, Janet Bragg & First Moon Flights

It was a scrolling sort of day. And an educational one. Here’s what we learned today about the Concorde, Janet Bragg, and Pan Am’s “First Moon Flights” Club.

Giant new aviation pavilion at Seattle’s Museum of Flight

Seattle’s sprawling Museum of Flight will double its gallery space with the official opening of a 3-acre Aviation Pavilion this Saturday.

aviation pavilion

The 9-story roofed outdoor gallery currently displays 15 commercial and military airplanes, including a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first Boeng 747 prototype, the only Concorde on the west coast and a FedEx Air Cargo exhibit housed inside a 727 freighter.

Tucked under the wings of the 747 is a mini-airport for kids.

Also on display: a Douglas DC-2 airliner from the 1930s, three big bombers (World War Two’s B-17F Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress), and the Cold War’s B-47 Stratojet.

The Museum’s rare, flyable 1932 Boeing 247, Boeing 727 prototype, and the first jet Air Force One will be moved over from the Museum’s Airpark across the street to the Pavilion in the fall.

Aviation pavilion 2

 

 

 

Museum Monday: Museum of Flight, Seattle

It’s Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, so time to take a look at one of the 694 aviation museums around the country.

This week: a quick look at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, which has just kicked off a new exhibit about women in the aerospace industry: Chasing Horizons: Women in Aerospace.

Associated Women Pilots of Boeing Field (1933-1946). Museum of Flight collection.

The exhibit starts off with pioneer French aeronaut Élisabeth Thible, who became the first woman to fly in a balloon in 1784, and continues through aviation’s Golden Age of the 1920s and 1930s, World War II, and to today’s fighter pilots, aerobatic pilots, engineers, and astronauts.

Of course, there are plenty of other things to see here. The Museum of Flight is home to a vast collection of more than 150 rare aircraft and space vehicles.

There’s a control tower overlooking the very active Boeing Field and, in the Personal Courage wing, a display of 28 fighter aircraft.  The major attraction, though, is the six-story Great Gallery where there are more than 20 full-size aircraft on display, including this Lockheed M-21 Blackbird.

Lockheed Blackbird at Museum of Flight

See that little red dot to the left of the Blackbird? That’s my favorite museum artifact – an early flying car known as the Taylor Aerocar III:

The museum also has a Concorde on loan from British Airways and the first presidential jet plane, a specially built Boeing 707-120, which had this ‘high-tech’ conference area.

First Air Force One Presidential plane

Seattle’s Museum of Flight is located just south of Seattle and not far from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. So it’s a good option for an activity during a long layover. See the Museum of Flight website for more information about exhibits, special events, hours and admission.

And let us know if you have a favorite aviation museum you’d like us to feature.