San Diego Air and Space Museum

San Diego has had something for more than 70 years that I have often wished Los Angeles had. A dedicated and comprehensive Air and Space Museum. San Diego has been the site of significant aviation milestones and events. In addition to being considered the home of naval aviation, it also was home to Ryan aircraft which was probably best known for helping to design and build the Spirit of St. Louis for Charles Lindberg's solo trans-Atlantic flight. 

Los Angeles also has a long history of participation in aviation and space flight. Lockheed's Skunk Works developed the first jet fighter, the first stealth aircraft, and the fastest manned aircraft. The North American company developed the Apollo command and service modules that took the first men to the moon as well as the space shuttle. McDonnell Douglas both designed and built passenger airliners in Los Angeles County for decades. 

Despite this impressive history, Los Angeles has never had a comprehensive air and space museum. There was once a small museum, but the exhibits were merged into a much larger science center. It seems the desire for a dedicated museum does not currently exist. The California Science Center is building a museum extension to house its collection of aircraft and spacecraft including the Space Shuttle Endeavour. It will probably be many years until this extension will open to the public.

For this reason and others, I love visiting the San Diego Museum. The entrance features two aircraft. The Convair F2Y Sea Dart and the A12 Mach 3+ spy plane. There are many additional aircraft and spacecraft exhibits inside. I have added several photos of these below. 

 

 

Above the Flight Deck

Kathy and I were recently in San Diego and once again visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. As always, she was patient with me and willingly waited for me while I walked around the Museum's enormous flight deck taking photos. It was a beautiful day featuring the scattered clouds and moderate temperatures common to the San Diego coastline. I have previously photographed the aircraft on Midway’s flight deck, so I was deliberately trying to identify a new way to capture them. I thought a new viewpoint might work. As usual, I was using my tripod and taking ten exposures for each (soon to be HDR) image. The use of a tripod to create HDR images was once an absolute requirement because it allowed you to capture those exposures without moving the camera at all. This ensured the post processing software could successfully merge these images into a single HDR image without generating unwanted visual artifacts. What I found was that the software has evolved over the years and has become much more powerful and capable, enabling me to try something new. I set a five second shutter timer on my tripod mounted camera and held it over my head, tenuously raising nearly $8000 of camera equipment about fourteen feet above the flight deck. Not being able to look through the viewfinder, I was trying to align my camera lens in the general direction of what I wanted to capture and to hold the tripod steady, which was exceedingly difficult. I failed several times but succeeded more times than not. I got a few stares from other museum visitors and volunteers, but I ignored that and pressed on, hoping to capture something good.

The photos below are the results.

I Got a Right to Sing the Blues

The first time I saw the US Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, I was 5 years old. At the time the team was flying the powerful McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter aircraft which were aptly nicknamed the Rhino. These huge twin-engine jets were unbelievably loud especially when all 6 of them fired up their engines simultaneously. The ground actually started shaking. All of this visual and aural stimulation was way too intense for a 5-year-old so after very little thought, I decided screaming and crying my eyes out would be an appropriate response. On the day this photo was taken at the Yanks air museum in Chino, California I was quite surprised to find this FA-18 aircraft wearing the Blue Angel livery. Unbidden, my mind flashed back to my first encounter with the blues. However, this time I was able to maintain my composure and just framed up my shot. I'm glad my response was a calm one. My wife would never have been able to scoop me up and walk me outside. It had probably been a decade since I had visited this museum and many things have changed including the fact that their aircraft collection has grown significantly.

More than Zero

The photo below is of the world’s only authentic flying A6M5 Zero fighter.

Designed and built by Mitsubishi in Japan during World War II, it dominated the skies anywhere it flew. It dispatched most American built fighters it encountered in battle brutally and quickly. So much so, that the United States began a deliberate effort to develop aircraft and tactics that could blunt this highly effective weapon. At the start of the war, the American P-39 was one of the best aircraft it had to deal with the threat, and it was no match. Japanese Zero pilots quickly learned that the P-39 could not climb with them and used their aircraft’s superior high-altitude performance to their advantage in defeating the P-39 on many occasions.

The secret of the Zero's stellar performance was due in part to its well trained and battle proven pilots as well as it’s lightweight construction. Unlike other fighters of the period, it completely lacked armor protection for the pilot and the fuel tanks. a fact that US fighter pilots found out when they fired incendiary bullets at the zero causing it to quicky catch fire and blow up in midair. 

Many years ago, as a volunteer docent at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, I had the great honor of showing a group of former Japanese Zero pilots this very aircraft. I would guess most of them were in their 80’s at the time and had traveled to the museum specifically to see the aircraft. It was my understanding that for most of them, this was their first opportunity to see a Zero since the end of the war. Upon entering the hanger which housed the aircraft, without exception they all began to cry and tried to hide their emotional response from one another by wandering off between the other aircraft in the hanger until they could compose themselves. It was a very emotional day. I always find it heartbreaking to see an old person cry. I admit I had to compose myself as well. After a few minutes they all gathered around the aircraft once more and suddenly began shouting a salute to the aircraft in unison. When they were informed that the aircraft would be flown for them that day there were more tears and many more during the Zero's triumphant return to the skies overhead.

I would imagine with so many years now having gone by since that emotional day, most if not all these men have passed away and most probably there are no longer any living memories of flying the Zero during World War II.

This specific aircraft was captured by the US Marines on June 18, 1944. It was returned to San Diego where it was evaluated, and test flown by many pilots including Charles A Lindberg. Eventually it was declared surplus after the war and was scheduled to be destroyed but the Museum acquired it in 1950 and restored it to flight status in 1978.

It has made several good will tours of Japan where it was displayed and flew for huge crowds all over the country, becoming the first Zero to do so since the end of the war.

San Diego Air and Space Museum's Scooter

Here is another flawlessly restored A-4 Skyhawk. This one is wearing the the livery of the USS Hancock's attack squadron 212, aircraft 302 which was once piloted by commander Frank C. Green who was lost over North Vietnam on July 10, 1972 during an armed recon mission. He was listed as missing in action until 2008 when his remains were recovered. He was interred at Miramar National Cemetery in 2010.

Hammers of Hell

On April 30, 1962 at the then super-secret Area 51 facility at Groom Lake, Nevada, those who witnessed the first flight of the new A-12 spy plane were awe-struck by the raw power it displayed. It was so loud that somebody named it "The Hammers of Hell" on the spot.  Built by Lockheed for the CIA, its mission was to spy on the Soviet Union and its client states. Construction plans called for it to be largely built from a rare material called titanium. This was the only metal known that could withstand the super heating the air frame would experience at 3 times the speed of sound and altitudes above 80,000 feet. Using a series of fake companies and import firms, Lockheed was able to obtain the Titanium from non-other than the Soviet Union itself. So they helped the United States build a spy plane that they were never able to shoot down. It just flew too high and too fast. At altitude A-12 pilots reported that the sky turned black, the stars came out and they could see the curvature of the earth. They often out ran missiles shot at them. None were ever lost to enemy fire.

On the Line

This Airbus A340 taxi's to its gate after landing at Los Angeles International Airport. I can't claim credit for thinking quickly and capturing this interesting view of the aircraft. The opportunity was pointed out to me and I happily fired off about 10 frames.

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service - AirButt Greg-380

As of the time of this posting the cost of an economy class round trip flight on this QANTAS A380 from Los Angeles, California to Sydney Australia is $1,497 USD. I recently had the opportunity to tour this aircraft and while it was huge, the economy seats were small and leg room tight for someone as tall as I am. I know this for a fact because I tried one on for size.

The aircraft itself was amazing. I was stunned by the incredibly high-tech cockpit and at its massive size.

The A380 has an range of 9,756 miles which would guarantee that I would run out of ass before it ran out of gas.

Temporary Parking

The Space Shuttle Endeavour in repose while awaiting the funding and construction of it's new exhibit space at the California Science Center at Exposition Park in Los Angeles.

Up and Over

We were parked very near the end of one of the runways at LAX waiting for this huge KLM 747 to make its turn on to final for landing. Kevin spotted it first and I was able to use my zoom lens to confirm that the approaching aircraft had 4 engines. This meant it was either the KLM 747 or an A380. It looked like it was going to pass directly overhead so I thought that perhaps switching from my zoom lens to my ultra wide 14mm would be a good idea. The only problem was that the aircraft was rapidly getting bigger and louder. I quickly got out of he car and dug in my backpack for the lens. I could hear the engines howling, blocking out all other sounds. I managed a very fast lens swap and swung my camera skyward just as this behemoth roared overhead. I managed to fire off about 10 frames using my new Sony A99. The focus tracking function worked perfectly! What an amazing experience this was. My ears are still ringing.