Monday was a good day! My Dad went golfing. I dropped my Mother and Catherine off in down town Palm Springs to enjoy the shopping. I had nothing to do! What should I do?
Of course any self-respecting aviation nut would quickly go to the Palm Springs Air Museum, and so I did. The PSAM has an impressive looking glass front to their building. Visitors are greeted by an A-6E, F-16N, F-14 and A-4 outside. I paid for my admission just outside the gift store which was rather large for most museums. Here is the interesting part… when they saw my camera bag and tripod I was encouraged to take pictures! This was a refreshing change from other museum I had visited recently.
I made my way outside to the rear of the museum where the aircraft are displayed. The hanger to the right was open and there was the Griffon powered Spit, NH904, basking in the sun. Before I could even set up my tripod I was descended upon by docents! I must say the volunteers are the greatest asset of this museum. All were friendly and wanted to tell you about the planes in the museum. I had a great time chatting with them all, and there had to be ten of them on duty! I was even given a walk around tour of the P-47 who flew them during WWII, and I must say it is experiences like that which make visits to museums quite special and memorable.
A few planes were on display outside including their C-1 Trader. There was also a T-34 Mentor in a blue and white navy paint scheme. I don’t know much about that one, so I will post an ID when I post the pictures. Also outside was the museum’s T-28 and DC-3. Even though it was the end of January the sun was quite strong, quite unnatural for a Canuck in the winter! I could understand why not many more planes were on display outside, since continue exposure to the sun could damage the paint.
As I mentioned the first hanger I visited had a Spit on display. Also on display was a P-40, P-47, P-51, PT-19, B-25 (“Mitchell the Witch” with new nose art), Stearman and a Texan. In the other half of that hanger their B-17 was displayed along with the P-51 “Dakota Kid II”. In the other hanger the naval aircraft were displayed including the F7F, Dauntless, A-26, F6F, F4F and Goose (I may be forgetting a few).
The PSAM is not a restoration museum, so there isn’t much news to report. Pictures will follow in about a week or so, so look forward to a post with Webshots links. If you are going to be in the area I strongly recommend a visit. Even if you have seen all their airframes before, it is worth the visit just to chat with the volunteers. It was a fantastic experience.
Regards,
Mike
P.S. I am not on the internet much this week, so if you post any questions in reply to this post I may not reply until next week. I also plan to visit the March Field Museum and Yanks museum yet, so hopefully there will be more reports to follow.
_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.cahttp://www.facebook.com/AerialVisualsDo you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the
The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the
Airframes Database.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
My mind is in the Gulf of Finland right now...thanx
