History

Museum Monday: Elvis’s airplanes at Graceland

August 15, 2010Harriet BaskasAirplanes, Aviation history, Celebrities, Exhibits, History, Layover, Museum Monday, MuseumsElvis Presley, Graceland

There are more than 700 aviation and space museums around the country. Each Monday we profile one of them. Eventually we’ll hit them all.

Today, to mark the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death on August 16^th, 1977, we’ll make a stop at Graceland, where two of Elvis’s jets are on display.

This Lockheed JetStar was dubbed Hound Dog II:

Hound Dog II, Elvis Presley's Lockheed JetStar

(Photo courtesy jbcurio, via Flickr).

According to this article, Elvis purchased this Lockheed JetStar in September, 1975 for $899,702, while waiting for his other plane, the Lisa Marie (below), a Convair 880 Jet previously owned by Delta Airlines, to arrive.

At Graceland, visitors sit in a mock 1970’s-era airline terminal to see a short film about Elvis and his airplanes and are then allowed to tour the JetStar and the Lisa Marie, which was also known as Hound Dog I or Flying Graceland.

Elvis Presley's airplane, Lisa Marie, on display at Graceland

Elvis Presley's airplane - the Lisa Marie - at Graceland

(Photo courtesy rgblasson via Flickr

Sadly, I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Graceland. Yet. But when I do, I’ll make a beeline for the airplanes. First stop, the Lisa Marie. According to this article, the airplane has a seating area, conference room, library and plush bedroom with an executive bathroom equipped with gold washbasin and faucets.

Have you seen Elvis’s airplanes at Graceland? Share details of your visit below.

And please let us know if you have a nomination for an aviation or space museum you’d like to see featured on a future edition of Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

A favorite: Elvis and Nixon

Museum Monday: 1940 Air Terminal Museum, Houston Hobby Airport

August 9, 2010Harriet BaskasAir Travel, Airplanes, Airports, Art, aviation, Aviation history, Exhibits, History, Museum Monday, Museums1940 Air Terminal Museum, Houston Hobby Airport, William P. Hobby Airport

There are close to 700 aviation and space museums in this country. Each Monday, we take a look at one of them. Stick around. Eventually we’ll visit them all!

This week: The 1940 Air Terminal Museum at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport.

Vintage view of Houston Hobby Airport terminal

Greetings from Houston Hobby Airport

Housed in the airport’s original art deco air terminal,the museum is dedicated to showcasing the city’s aviation history.

In addition to this classic, restored terminal building, the museum has historic aircraft on display in the restored 1928 Carter Field Airmail Hangar.

1928 Carter Field Airmail Hangar

The 1940 Air Terminal Museum recently raffled off an airplane and is now accepting entries for a “Flying Times” art exhibition featuring artwork and objects relating to Commercial aviation, General Aviation, or Space.

Not sure if you want to enter? Consider this: cash prizes will be awarded for the best work (1^st prize: $500, 2^nd Prize: $250, 3^rd prize: $100) and for the work that best depicts the terminal building ($50 prize.) Cash prizes will also be awarded in several other categories. The deadline for entries is September 1, 2010 and the show will run from September 17 through October 31, 2010. Look here for entry forms and more information about the 1940 Air Terminal Museum’s art contest. And good luck!

Houston Hobby Airport - Opening Day

Do you have a favorite aviation or space museum? If so, nominate it here and it may be featured on a future edition of Museum Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com.

Museum Monday: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

July 26, 2010Harriet BaskasAir Travel, Airplanes, Exhibits, Free Stuff, History, Museum Monday, Museumsfree museums, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, USAF Museum

There are close to 700 aviation and space museums around the country.

Each Monday here at StuckatTheAirport.com, we feature one of them.

This week: The National Museum of the US Air Force.

This museum has a lot of fans and I took a lot of heat for leaving it out of a recent msnbc.com column – Aviation Museums that Soar – that only had room to mention six aviation and space museums around the country.

So here we go:

Northrop B-2 Spirit at the National Museum of the U. S. Air Force

With 17 acres of indoor exhibition space and more than 400 aerospace vehicles in its collection, the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, OH, is the largest military aviation museum in the world.

In addition to an IMAX theater, and more than a half dozen huge galleries filled with one-of-a-kind aircraft and aerospace vehicles, the museum has personal artifacts, photographs, documents and exhibits that help tell the Air Force story.

Air Power Gallery National Museum of the US AIR FORCE

The Air Power Gallery at the National Museum of the US Air Force

If you plan to visit, you might have to pick just a few galleries to see. And choosing won’t be easy.

In the Early Years Gallery, the aircraft, exhibits and artifacts start with the Wright brothers and continue through World War I and the beginning of World War II.

Reproduction 1909 Wright Flyer at National Museum of the US Air Force

In the 140-foot tall, silo-like Missile and Space Gallery you’ll find a collection of missiles that can be viewed from the ground level or from a platform that runs around the inside of the gallery. There’s also the Apollo 15 Command Module, Mercury and Gemini capsules, rocket engines, satellites and balloon gondolas.

The Missile and Space Gallery at the USAF Museum

And in the Presidential Gallery, for which there are special entry requirements, you’ll see the airplane that served as Air Force One the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as well as airplanes used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

President John F. Kennedy disembarking Air Force One

There’s more – lots more – so before you visit be sure to poke around the National Museum of the US Air Force Museum website.

SPAD XIII at National Museum of the United States Air Force

The USAF Museum is open daily. Admission is free.

A great time to visit might be during Labor Day weekend (Sept 3-5, 2010) when the museum hosts the Giant Scale Radio-Controlled Model Aircraft Air Show with model jets, helicopters and warbirds doing acrobatics in the sky.

Do you have a favorite aviation or space museum? If so, leave a comment below and we may feature your suggestion in a future Museum Monday on StuckatTheAirport.com.

Jimmy Carter exhibit at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport

July 21, 2010Harriet BaskasAir Travel, Exhibits, Historyairport exhibits, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, history, Jimmy Carter

A new exhibit at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son,” uses mementos, photographs and artifacts to tell the story of the South Georgia peanut farmer who become the state’s 76^th governor and eventually the nation’s 39^th president.

Jimmy Carter: Georgia’s Native Son is displayed in the walkway connecting the main security screening area and Concourse T and will be at ATL through July 2011. The exhibit is part of a larger exhibit at the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum near downtown Atlanta.

Photos courtesy Hartsfield-Jackson Altanta International Airport

Museum Monday: Gallery of Flight at Milwaukee General Mitchell Int’l Airport

July 12, 2010Harriet BaskasAirplanes, Aviation history, Free Stuff, History, Museum Monday, MuseumsAviation Museums, Milwaukee - General Mitchell International Airport, Mitchell Gallery of Flight

If you like flying, chances are you like airplanes. And if you like airplanes, chances are you like visiting aviation museums once in a while.

Lucky for you there are more than 600 aviation and space-related museums around the country. Each Monday, StuckatTheAirport.com visits one of them.

This week, it’s the Mitchell Gallery of Flight inside Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport.

(Hamilton Metalplane display, courtesy Mitchell Gallery of Flight)

Like the airport, the museum is named in honor of General Billy Mitchell, who is regarded as the Father of the U.S. Air Force.

Mitchell is profiled in the People section of the museum, along with Wisconsin-born fighter ace Dick Bong and other aviators with Wisconsin links, including Charles Lindbergh, who visited the Milwaukee airport in 1927. Two exhibit cases display artifacts and photos about Captain James Lovell, who is best known for his four Gemini and Apollo spaceflights.

In the Aircraft & Airships section of the museum, you’ll see antique propellers, aviation-related artifacts and loads of models, including a 22-foot, 1/36^th scale model of the Graf Zeppelin II (a sister to the Hindenberg) and models of military jets, WWII aircraft and airplanes of all eras.

(Photo by Prateek Bahadur, via Flickr Creative Commons)

Best of all, the museum is located pre-security at Milwaukee General Mitchell International Airport and admission is free.

For information about hours and exhibits, see the Mitchell Gallery of Flight website.

(Photo by Prateek Bahadur, via Flickr Creative Commons)

Do you have a favorite aviation/space museum? Please feel free to nominate it for a future edition of Museum Monday.

Museum Monday: LAX Flight Path Learning Center and Museum

July 5, 2010Harriet BaskasAirlines, Airplanes, aviation, Aviation history, Exhibits, History, Museumsaviation, Exhibits, Flight Path Learning Center and Museum, Los Angeles International Airport

There are close to 700 aviation & space museums around the county and in my recent msnbc.com column Aviation and Space Museums that Soar, I only had room to list six of them. The best of the rest we’ll get to know here, during Museum Mondays on StuckatTheAirport.com.

Last week, it was the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport in Windsor, CT. This week, we’ll take a look at the Flight Path Learning Center and Museum , in the Imperial Terminal (once the home MGM Grand Airlines) on the south perimeter of Los Angeles International Airport.

(Photo courtesy: Kate Sedlmayr, KES Consulting.aero)

In addition to special exhibits, Flight Path features historic murals that depict the history of aviation in Southern California along with model airplanes, photographs, airline uniforms and a wide variety of artifacts and memorabilia that tell the story of Southern California-based airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and aerospace companies.

The exhibits inside the museum are great, but for many the real attraction is what passes by the museum’s windows: the museum looks out onto LAX runways and visitors can watch airplanes take off and land.

(Photo courtesy Paul Haney)

Want to visit? The Flight Path Learning Center and Museum is located on the south perimeter of Los Angeles International Airport, a very short drive or cab ride from the airline terminals. Admission is free. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A great time to visit the Flight Path Learning Center and Museum would be on Saturday July 17^th, 2010 at 10 a.m. when the museum presents an audiovisual salute to 50 years of jet passenger service at Los Angeles International Airport that will include are photos and archival film clips of early passenger jets and jet terminal development at LAX.

(Photo courtesy: Kate Sedlmayr, KES Consulting.aero)

Do you have a favorite aviation or space museum? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below and it may end up featured on a future edition of Museum Monday at StuckatTheAirport.com.

Thanks to Paul Haney and Kate Sedlmayr for help with this week’s Museum Monday

Airplane pilots pay attention to Bitching Betty

June 26, 2010Harriet BaskasAirports, aviation, Aviation history, Historyautomated navigation, Bitching Betty, GPS

I don’t have a GPS unit in my car, but I do find myself talking back to the little digital chef that pops up on the screen of my microwave. So I got a kick out of this Family Matters column from the New York Times in which Bruce Feiler examines the relationships people develop with the voice on their car GPS unit.

I’m linking to the article here because Feiler traces the origin of female voices in automated navigation devices back to airplanes in World War II:

…[W]omen’s voices were used in airplane cockpits because they stood out among the male aviators. “It has nothing to do with acoustics or taste,” said Judy Edworthy, a professor of applied psychologist at the University of Plymouth in England who specializes in “alarms, auditory warnings, beeps and buzzers. They used female voices because they were different,” she said, “and the men were more likely to pay attention to them, particularly in combat situations.

Female voices are still used for warnings in many airplane cockpits and have earned the slang term Bitching Betty among pilots. Patricia Hoyt, who recorded the voice-overs used in many planes, recently revealed herself as Betty in a YouTube video in which she recites common phrases like “auto pilot” and “landing gear.”

Here’s that video.

Aviation and space museums on the must-see list

June 25, 2010Harriet BaskasAirplanes, aviation, Aviation history, Exhibits, History, MuseumsAviation Museums, Boeing tour, Natinal Museum of the US Air Force, Pima Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Air & Space

(Hanging planes at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ)

I am an idiot.

At least that’s what some fans of Dayton, Ohio’s United States Air Force Museum and many other aviation museums were calling me today.

They read my msnbc.com column – Aviation and space museums that soar – and were pissed that their favorite museum wasn’t among the six museums featured in the story.

I’m not surprised. The museums I included in the story are great. But there are around 600 other aviation and space museums around the country and each has its own unique collection and incredible team of supporters and volunteers. So it was a good bet that a lot of people were going to be disappointed with the short list in my story.

(Northrop B-2 Spirit on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force: U.S. Air Force photo)

What did I miss?

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio for sure. According to Bobby Schlein, a self-described aviation enthusiast “with a degree and a job in the field,” the museum has“the most extensive collection of defense aircraft… from a replica of the Wright flyer to the F-22 and most in between; as well as a presidential and experiential hangar with many iterations of Air Force One and several very rare (some one of a kind) experimental vehicles including the X-70B Valkyrie.” Another huge plus …no admission fee.

What else? The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI, the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida were just some of the other “must-see” places people wished were on the list as well.

They are all certainly worth a visit. And in this day and age, when so many art and history organizations are hurting for money and support, they’re all lucky to have such devoted fans.

So apologies if I overlooked your favorite aviation or space museum on this list of six:

FUTURE OF FLIGHT AVIATION CENTER & BOEING TOUR
Everett, Wash.

What you’ll see: On Boeing’s 90-minute tour through the Everett factory, visitors go inside the world’s largest building (by volume) and see the production line for the 747, 767, 777 and the new 787 airplanes. The adjacent Future of Flight Aviation Center displays airplane engines and other giant airplane parts and offers a wide variety of interactive exhibits, including the knob and dial-encrusted flight deck from a 727 airplane.

EVERGREEN AVIATION & SPACE MUSEUM
McMinnville, Ore.

What you’ll see: The museum houses the infamous, huge Howard Hughes Flying Boat HK-1, better known as the Spruce Goose, and more than 50 aircraft from various eras, including a Wright 1903 Flyer replica, a Russian Photon space capsule and a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird.

(Fighter jets outside the hangar dedicated to World War II Aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum; Courtesy Arizona Aerospace Foundation)

PIMA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
Tucson, Ariz.

What you’ll see: The collection at this 80-acre museum includes more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft, 125,000 aviation-related artifacts, a relocated WWII barracks and a space gallery with a moon rock and a training version of an Apollo space capsule. The museum also displays President John F. Kennedy’s Air Force One, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, and hundreds of other rare, important and restored aircraft.

INTREPID SEA, AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
New York

What you’ll see: Located on and in the 900-foot-long ESSEX class aircraft carrier Intrepid, the museum is itself a national historical landmark with a collection that includes a Concorde as well as aircraft from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard. The submarine USS Growler, the only submarine still in existence that fired nuclear missiles is also part of the museum and is open to the public.

SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM
San Diego, Calif.

What you’ll see: Housed in a 1930s-era Ford Motor Company Exposition building, the museum presents science, aviation and space history in a series of themed airplane, spacecraft and artifact-filled galleries that include a 1928 Ford Tri-Motor passenger plane, a working flying replica of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 9 command module and many other one-of-a-kind private, military and commercial artifacts and aircraft.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’S NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

What you’ll see: The world’s largest collection of historic air and spacecraft includes a planetarium, an IMAX theater and thousands of artifacts, including the original Wright 1903 Flyer, Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 command module Columbia from the first lunar landing mission, and a moon rock that you’re allowed to touch. And that’s just at the building on the National Mall. The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located near Dulles International Airport, contains many of the museum’s largest objects and artifacts, including the Space Shuttle Enterprise, a deHavilland Chipmunk aerobatic plane and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.

Have I missed your favorite aviation or space museum? Please share the details in the comments section below.

UFO Anniversary: Flying Saucers first sighted on June 24th, 1947

June 24, 2010Harriet BaskasAviation history, History, UFOsaliens, crop circles, flying saucers, UFOs

Whether you believe in them or not, today is the anniversary of the day back in 1947 when the “flying saucers” phenomenon began.

People had certainly spotted strange things in the sky before. But it was a pilot flying his private plane near Washington State’s Mt. Rainier that gave the unidentified flying objects such a catchy name.

As described in Historylink.org:

“While flying in his private airplane near Mount Rainier en route from Chehalis, Washington, to his home in Boise, Idaho, Kenneth Arnold was startled by a bright light shortly before 3 p.m., on June 24, 1947. He looked north and saw nine gleaming objects racing southward along the crest of the Cascades. They were roughly circular in form — except for one crescent-shaped object — measured about 50 feet across, and appeared metallic. He watched them for approximately two minutes until they disappeared over Oregon.”

Spooky, right?

During a refueling stop in eastern Oregon, Arnold described his experience to the local newspaper editor, saying that the vehicles flew in and out of the mountain peaks at incredible speeds and in an undulating formation “like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water.”

Stories like that,with details like that, are too juicy to ignore. The report got picked up by newspapers around the country – and around the world – and from then on, unidentified flying objects have become known as “flying saucers.”

If you’re interested in some modern-day stories about aliens at some airports, please see my recent Aliens, UFOs and Crop circles at the airport post, which links to my USATODAY.com column about some of these episodes.

Rolling down the tracks…Happy National Train Day

May 7, 2010Harriet BaskasExhibits, Free Stuff, HistoryAmtrak, Babe Ruth, Muddy Waters, National Train Day, Railroad Braceros, Train

(Golden Spike ceremony. Photo: Andrew J. Russell, courtesy National Archives and Records Administration)

Flying is fun, but once in a while taking the train just makes more sense.

Saturday, May 8^th, 2010 is National Train Day and there will celebrations around the country in major train stations, small depots, and transportation museums around the country. You can read my column on the festivities – Marking Americans’ love affair with the rails , but here are a few highlights and a few bonus photos.

(Union Station train display; photo by Stephen J. Boitano)

Amtrak is celebrating National Day Train Day with free events that include model train displays, tours of private railroad cars, cooking demonstrations and a wide range of other activities at train stations in New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles. Each of these stations will also be offering something extra:

(Babe Ruth photo courtesy Baseball Hall of Fame)

At Philadelphia’s 30^th Street Station, there will an exhibit titled Baseball Junction: The History of Baseball and the American Railroad with memorabilia, photos and videos. Several former major league players will be on hand to sign autographs as well.

(Muddy Waters poster from the Chicago Blues Museum)

At Chicago’s Union Station, they’ll be talking about the role train travel played in the history of blues music in America. Posters and other memorabilia from the Chicago Blues Museum will be on display and there will be a performance of train-themed blues songs by Big Bill and Larry “Mud” Morganfield, who are the sons of legendary blues musician Muddy Waters. Mississippi Delta blues musician Bobby Rush will join them.

(Railroad Braceros courtesy Aaron Castañeda Gamez)

And Union Station in Los Angeles will have an exhibit about the Railroad Braceros. During World War II, there was a shortage of manual laborers in the United States and thousands of Mexican citizens were invited to come to the United States as part of the bracero, or guest worker, program. The more than 130,000 Mexican men who joined the ranks of the Railroad Braceros helped build and maintain the country’s passenger rail system.

There are more than 130 other events marking National Train Day around the country. To find out what’s happening in your town, check NationalTrainDay.com.