wendovertom wrote:
Too bad more museums don't this type of event.
When the National Warplane Museum was at Geneseo NY, apparently they allowed access to their aircraft quite often. In 1995 I had Thanksgiving Monday all to myself. Of course this was TG Monday in Canada, which was a regular weekday in the US. I took a trip to Geneseo to visit the museum for the first time. I was the only person there since it was a regular week day. I was told when paying my admission that if the door was open and a ladder was in place I was welcome to enter the aircraft and walk around. Wooo hoooo!!! I had a great time crawling all through Fuddy Duddy. I sat in each position from the bombarier's position, to the pilot's position to the tail gunner. Being able to take the time and absorb the surroundings of such a significant aircraft type is something I will never forget.
The Canada Aviation Museum allows similar experiences from time-to-time, but are rare. Ryan Keogh (of Collings Foundation fame) has a great time looking around the bomb bay and into the cockpit of the CAvM's B-24L last summer. This B-24 was a sister ship to Whichcraft when they were in service with the Indian Air Force. You had to be there to hear it, but everyone had a good chuckle listening to Ryan marval over the condition of the CAvM's B-24.
I do agree though. Access like this should be granted more often. I helps bring the casual visitor to a whole different level of appreciation (although still a long way off) of what the service people endured when these great aircraft were in service.
Regards,
Mike
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