Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
Moderators: Niner Delta, joseyclosey
Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
I visited the US Navy Air museum at Pensacola a few weeks ago. Great experience....and it is free to the public. Only thing is ..it's on a Navy base and you can get to it only from one gate and you have to have your ID with you. In another year you will be expected to have the new Star ID that goes into effect for airline passengers and people going into government official buildings. The online site is here: https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/
Lots of interesting aircraft and their tie in with the Navy. There is also a section devoted to the Coast Guard as well. Among the planes there are relics from a hundred years ago as well as WWII planes including a P40 Flying Tigar and a German jet fighter and a Jap Zero. There is even a helicopter used by Nixon.
Pensacola is home to the Blue Angels flying stunt team. One of the older planes is the blue one in the attached.
Lots of interesting aircraft and their tie in with the Navy. There is also a section devoted to the Coast Guard as well. Among the planes there are relics from a hundred years ago as well as WWII planes including a P40 Flying Tigar and a German jet fighter and a Jap Zero. There is even a helicopter used by Nixon.
Pensacola is home to the Blue Angels flying stunt team. One of the older planes is the blue one in the attached.
- Niner Delta
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Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
So great to see the site back up, there are some photos I wanted to post......
That is a great collection of aviation..... everything from a 1941 Ford Tudor to a
Consolidated PB2Y Coronado. If only it wasn't literally at the other end of the
country from me.
I haven't been back to the Smithsonian collection in 50 years, maybe next summer
I'll take a road trip back east to see some of these things. But more likely I won't...
.
That is a great collection of aviation..... everything from a 1941 Ford Tudor to a
Consolidated PB2Y Coronado. If only it wasn't literally at the other end of the
country from me.
I haven't been back to the Smithsonian collection in 50 years, maybe next summer
I'll take a road trip back east to see some of these things. But more likely I won't...
.
Peace is that brief, quiet moment in history.......... when everybody stands around reloading.
- joseyclosey
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Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
Now that looks like my kind of museum.
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Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
I work at NAS Pensacola so I'm no stranger to the museum. I've been to the Air and Space in Washington DC, both the old one downtown and the new one out by Dulles. While the National Museum of Naval Aviation doesn't have the breadth of the Smithsonian collection since it is limited to Navy and Marine Corps it is certainly of equal or better quality to the Air and Space Museum. There are constantly new planes being added to the display. The museum has a restoration facility manned by a number of volunteers. Most of them were aviation maintenance rates in the Navy, power plant mechanic, airframe mechanics, metal smiths etc. so the restorations are first rate. They have a few "only know example extant" aircraft as well as some whose surviving numbers can be counted on one hand.
After seeing the museum you can also tour the pre-Civil War Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola lighthouse. The Pensacola Navy Yard was established in 1831 and has been an operating Navy base since. Pensacola was originally founded by the Spanish in 1859, before St. Augustine but because the first three settlements were wiped out by hurricane St. Augustine claims to be older. We know better. Pensacola has been governed by the Spanish, French, British, Confederate and US governments giving the city its motto "City of Five Flags".
If you are in the western tip of the Florida panhandle the Naval Aviation Museum is definitely worth a stop. About an hour's drive away is the Air Force Armaments Museum located near Eglin Air Force Base. Eglin has been an Air Force weapons development and testing center since before WWII. Not as big or as nice as the Naval Museum the Air Force Museum here is worth a look. The big Air Force museum is in Dayton, Ohio.
After seeing the museum you can also tour the pre-Civil War Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola lighthouse. The Pensacola Navy Yard was established in 1831 and has been an operating Navy base since. Pensacola was originally founded by the Spanish in 1859, before St. Augustine but because the first three settlements were wiped out by hurricane St. Augustine claims to be older. We know better. Pensacola has been governed by the Spanish, French, British, Confederate and US governments giving the city its motto "City of Five Flags".
If you are in the western tip of the Florida panhandle the Naval Aviation Museum is definitely worth a stop. About an hour's drive away is the Air Force Armaments Museum located near Eglin Air Force Base. Eglin has been an Air Force weapons development and testing center since before WWII. Not as big or as nice as the Naval Museum the Air Force Museum here is worth a look. The big Air Force museum is in Dayton, Ohio.
Last edited by Reese Williams on Sun Nov 24, 2019 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
Reese, glad you found the site back in business. We attempted to visit Fort Barrancas but the day we went it was closed.
- ArchFluffy
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Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
Wow! Great pics!
I really should check the place out. It's not so far from an uncle of mine.
And a fort too!
-ArchFluffy
I really should check the place out. It's not so far from an uncle of mine.
And a fort too!
-ArchFluffy
- DuncaninFrance
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Re: Navy Air Museum in Pensacola Florida
Don't forget to wear your Orange kit Arch, don't want you getting shot by a fighter plane
Duncan
What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- W.C. Fields
"Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price."
You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something.
What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- W.C. Fields
"Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price."
You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something.