Warbird Information Exchange

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

I really like the Guardian too. The Zero is nice as well. Thanks for posting

_________________
Better is the enemy of Good.

I like the guy shooting pics of the 262's wheel wells. So why no pics here, guy?? So, they really let you get up-close and personal on these planes, eh? Or was it "no ropes" day?

Unlike many museums, at NNAM you can touch history up close and personal.
You may have noticed the light level. Unlike a wonderful museum in Ohio, NNAM
uses more that a dozen 40 watt bulbs for illimination.

Look the Me-262 over, feel how slick it is. Then go look at a contemporary F6F.
OMG, I'm so glad Adolph wanted then as bombers. Thank god they were never deployed in numbers and that we had ten P-51s for each of theirs.

Owen

The Zero still bugs me. Probably the USN's most famous opponent, and the one they have on display is a bizarre hack job...

The Zero was pieced together from numerous parts and wrecks. I think the volunteers did a pretty decent job with what they had...

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

Volunteers are great, but why the odd wing root bumps?

Not sure. I don't know what they had to work with, what's real, what's fabricated and if they had any plans to work from. It would be interesting to see what they had when they started the rebuild/restoration. I also don't know how old the restoration is. What was done 20/30 years ago might be done to a different standard today.

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

The 'Zero' is one of 'colorful' Canadian Bob Deimert's 1970s creations, and is more of a replica than a restoration. It incorporates a some original Zero parts, combined with a lot of "Red Green Style" garage engineering (the wing center section appears to have been adapted from a BT-13.) I've heard that he also used a lot of non-aviation grade parts from the hardware store. I understand it actually flew once or twice before being donated to the museum. It was on display at the USMC Museum in Quantico for a number of years before ending up in Pensacola. What really bugs me is the fact that when I first visited the Museum in 2005 the 'Zero' had a reasonably accurate paint job. A couple of years later it was repainted in totally bogus markings that are all kinds of wrong.

SN

Hands On!

The first time I visited I met a veteran back seat gunner who gave me detailed information on each plane.

At the Avenger he showed me where the wing crank was located in the wheel well and proceeded to CRANK UP THE WING!

More:

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

I've noticed that for some reason the museum seems to be awash in Wildcats. They have a total of five on display: a "yellow wing" F4F-3, another -3 in the "lake bottom" diorama, a third -3 hanging from the ceiling, an FM-2 masquerading as an F4F in the Guadalcanal diorama, and another FM-2 hanging out by the lobby.

The NMUSAF seems to have a similar situation with F-4 Phantoms, with something like a half-dozen variants on display.

SN

Thanks for sharing some really quality photos - all of you.

Ken

_________________
"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

Fantastic museum. I've visited three times now, and always shoot several hundred pics! Gotta love digital cameras. I remember "back in the day" I'd usually bring four rolls of 'film' (ask your parents, kids) when I visited the USAF Museum, giving me a total of 80 or so shots, of which maybe half would be 'keepers,' and I wouldn't know until I got home and had the film processed. Now with a 16gb SD card I can shoot rhousands of frames, and know instantly if I got the shot, and shoot as many retakes as necessary.

SN