OT: Dulles-Air/Space museum

45 minute drive from DC and $12 to park but well worth it

they have genuine honest-to goodness SR-71, when Sacramento took plane out of service, crew flew it to Dulles setting speed record on the way, crew landed at Dulles taxied over to museum and tossed the keys to the staff

They also have genuine Concorde donated by Air France when they went out of service, landing gear on display is as impressive as the plane

very best part (for me) was large aircraft engine display under the walkway, biplane engines thru turbines with great parts/tools display on one wall

rebuilding a tractor engine taxs my skills, cannot imagine a human hand being able to build or repair one of those huge radials but they did it

Decades ago the Army sent to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, AL. for training for Pershing missle guidence by mistake. It took them 2 weeks to figure out that I was supposed to be in Georgia repairing satellite radio stuff, but on the other side of the hill NASA had a museum with some pretty neat stuff too. I had 2 weeks to kill, so...

By the way, I aint one, but some still believe the moon walks were shot in a hollywood studio.

Mark

Avro Lancaster Specifications

Engine:
Wingspan:
Length:
Height: Wing Area:
Maximum Speed:
Cruising Speed:
Service Ceiling:
Maximum Weight:
Empty Weight:
Fuel Capacity:
Range:

Armament: 4 Rolls Royce Packard Merlin 224 V-12's
102 feet
69 feet 6 inches
20 feet 4 inches
1300 square feet
275 miles per hour
185 to 225 miles per hour
20 000 feet ( maximum weight)
61 500 pounds
36 500 pounds
2154 Imperial gallons
2530 miles with 7000 pound bomb load
1730 miles with 12 000 pound bomb load
1550 miles with 22 000 pound bomb load
nose turret -two .303 cal.
mid-upper turret -two .303 cal. tail turret -four .303 cal.

Their "Connie" sat at Dulles Airport for about 10 yrs. all alone. Eventually, someone figgered out what to do with her.

• Airline History Museum