Les and Marcia's Bohemian Life: Pensocola FL

Pensacola Naval Station is only an hour from Mobile. So yes, we have another occasion to see another flight museum (this one from the Navys prospective). Free admission is another strong selling point. As always we see something different at every museum.

New thing number one was the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic. Three started the trip and only one made it to a successful landing (8 May 1919).

There is a banquet hall in the museum. I do believe it would be difficult for another place to compete with the decor. Suspended above the tables are decommissioned Blue Angels (the planes not the pilots). It makes quite an impression. * The Blue Angels are The Naval precision flight team and they are amazing! Activated in 1946 they currently fly F/A 18 Hornets and are known for flying in 18 inch wingtip formations. I don’t know how fast they are but they are really fast. So fun.

There is a small theater with a movie from the history channel. Seems as through during WWII somebody got the idea that Lake Michigan was a great place to have our pilots practice landing on aircraft carriers. Several cruise ships were repurposed for this training mission. This gave our pilots a huge advantage in battle situations. However, sometimes the pilots didn’t get it the first time. Lake Michigan became quite a grave yard for these retired planes that fell of the edge (they did fish out the pilots ). Fortunately, the lack of concern for our“environment” preserved these crashed war heroes. Recovery and restoration has continued throughout the decades. As a result this museum is filled with one of a kind planes that otherwise would have been scrapped and in landfills. One hero is the only surviving aircraft from the Battle of Midway.

Things that standout is the recreation of a small town during the hot and heavy rationing days of the big one ,WW2. Volunteers are willingly available to explain everything from rationing to the operation of a top cooled electric ice box. There is an impressive display about the operation of a flight deck on a carrier. This museum is the first we have visited that openly addresses our POWs from the Vietnam War. We can’t forget that there are mean ugly people in this world and there always will be.

No military museum is complete without a tribute to Bob Hope and it shouldn’t be.

This great day had a special treat as the Blue Angels never can practice discreetly. There homecoming show (end of season) is this Friday and Saturday and we have flight line seats.

Entry to the museum

The first plane to cross the Atlantic

Museum Banquet Hall

Doubles as an aviators classroom

It is hard to watch your wieght when you are travelling

1940s kitchen

Only word = Wierd

Surprise show

Marine One under Nixon

Yes Les you can fit in there - Do it Do it!!

Thanks for the memories

why yes I would look good in the flight suit

The Air show is a day long event ending with fireworks. The entire airfield was converted with Navy and Marine air and water craft, tasty snack wagons and fun rides. I was morbidly fascinated with an improvised explosive devise (IED) demonstration. The marines had been back stateside for several weeks and these were examples of devises they and their teams had found.

The sky is blue and the show was great.We recognized many of the air show acts from the Battle Creekair show.If you get the chance to see Les Shockly and his Shockwave Truck DON”T MISS IT.He has several.Today he drove his (modified) 57 Chevy pickup truck with a JET ENGINE!!!!!Just take my word – go see him.There was a great theme of old planes flying with new planes. The theme is 100 years of Naval Aviation and it was well represented.The Blue Angels flew at 1430 for an exciting, neck bending hour.All you can do is watch, enjoy and feel happy.The whole day was filled with music and food and eased to the night flight show and fireworks.I love military installations for traffic management. End of show to car to main road in under10 minutes. What a great day.

Les Shockly heading to the end of the runway- this is the only picture I could get. He was too fast.