NASM Udvar-Hazy Photo Gallery updates

[Vagabond]

Hi All,

I had the opportunity to swing by the NASM - Udvar-Hazy Center for a quick shoot to update our SmugMug gallery of images. I was fortunate to get to see and photograph the recent additions to the museum displays including the: Helldiver, F-100, Shuttle Discovery, Kikka and Shinden, as well as “Flak Bait,” the Horten, and the JRS-1 in the restoration area. I added the images to the end of the gallery.

http://www.vgbimages.com/AirMuseums/NAS ... -Chantilly

[Pat Carry]

Those are great, thanks! Its always good to see whats happening at the NASM. Looking forward to the day when FB will be whole again. Four more years for that I hear

[CoastieJohn]

Nice pics!

This one was just put in last month.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/us-coast ... 4349887108

[Vagabond]

Thanks guys and thanks for the info, CoastieJohn.

I was remiss in not including this in the original post.......

[p51]

great pics!
I swear there's no place to get a good overall view of the orbiter at that museum. You could never get a good shot of the 'Big E' when she was sitting there, either, without something in the way...

And then a few years later...

Last edited by p51 on Fri May 13, 2016 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Steve Nelson]

Great pics! I'm glad to see they're putting some of their "treasures" from Garber on display, even in unrestored condition.

I agree with P51..I was a bit frustrated trying to get a decent shot of the shuttle as well.

Looks like they've "buttoned up" the Helldiver since my last visit two years ago. When I was there they had the canopies open, rear deck folded down, and guns deployed.

SN

[Rajay]

Hi All,

I had the opportunity to swing by the NASM - Udvar-Hazy Center for a quick shoot to update our SmugMug gallery of images. I was fortunate to get to see and photograph the recent additions to the museum displays including the: Helldiver, F-100, Shuttle Discovery, Kikka and Shinden, as well as “Flak Bait,” the Horten, and the JRS-1 in the restoration area. I added the images to the end of the gallery.

http://www.vgbimages.com/AirMuseums/NAS ... -Chantilly

In Junior High School (40+ years ago) I got a copy of Roger A. Freeman's "The Mighty Eighth - a History of the U. S. 8th Army Air Force" in which Chapter 7 dealt with the subject of "Martin's Maligned Madame"

It related that...

"Monday May 17th 1943 was a black day for the 322nd Group, the gloom thereof persisted, and indeed deepened, in the weeks to come. Lt. Col Glenn Nye, a staff officer at 3rd Wing who had been mentor to the group prior to Stillman's arrival from the US, was given command of the 322nd. He informed the Group that operations would cease for the time being although training for low-level attack would continue. The situation was not helped by another fatal accident on May 29th when a Marauder practicing violent evasive action at low altitude, lost part of its tail and crashed into one of the Bury (St. Edmunds) hangars. After that few could doubt that the barracks room cynics were right - one had no chance of survival in a B-26 unit, if the enemy didn't get you the plane would! Surely, some asked, no further proof was needed, the Marauder was unsafe to fly let alone fight in. Many confidently predicted the group would now convert to another type of aircraft. The irony of the situation was that on that very airfield stood two Marauders, untried in combat, and as of yet identified only by their numbers, 41-31819 and 41-31773, that would in time have considerable bearing upon establishing the worth of their kin."

5 pages later, the chapter concludes with this:

"Preserved in the Smithsonian museum, Washington D. C., is a drab twin-engined aeroplane from World War Two. It bears the name Flak Bait, has 202 hand-painted symbols for bombing missions in a hostile sky and visible signs of repair. No other USAAF bomber completed so many operations over Europe. This Marauder, 41-31773, flew with the 449th Bomb Sqdn. of the ill-starred 322nd Group. It had been one of the aircraft parked at Bury St. Edmunds in late May 1943, when few believed the Marauder worthy of flying one combat mission - let alone 200."

I am always moved when I read those words and think that they are quite powerful - and I thought about them the last time I saw Flak Bait in person and touched its skin as so many had done before me, rubbing the paint off of its skin while its forward fuselage section was on display in NASM on the Capitol Mall.

[lucky52]

Would someone be able to explain how the fuselage sections on "Flak Bait" are split apart? Was it a job of drilling out rivets or just unbolting the sections or something else? Thanks.

[Rajay]

As happy I am that it was saved & preserved, I am also kinda' getting tired of seeing it in pieces, so here's a little reminder of what it looks like fully assembled & operational...

[Pat Carry]

I must say the museum staff did an awesome job on the Helldiver.