Larry & Cheryl's 2010 Travels travel blog

Pensacola Naval Station

National Naval Museum

Map of the museum floor

Naval personnel

Sopwith Camel, most successful WWI fighter, with Snoopy at the controls

Corsair Cockpit

Bob Hope entertaining the troops over the years

Rescue helicopter

Jet fighter cockpit

USS Ronald Regan painting

USS Lexington, Larry's birth father was a survivor of this WWII loss

A-4 Skyhawk

A-4 Skyhawk

F-4 Phanton Blue Angels

F-4 Phantom

Apache attack helicopter

A-4 Fighter

Ready for flight

A-4 simulator

Amphibian

Bell Helicopter

Painting of the Blue Angels in flight

Blue Angels in formation

Sikorsky Helicopter

Intruder

First Atlantic non-stop flight May 1919

NC4 Amphibian

Map of Atlantic crossing

WWI fighter

WWII camp in the South Pacific

Navy Flyer's Creed

George H.W. Bush

Hanger Deck display

Old town Pensacola display with a WWII Marine

Spitfire

USS Yorktown

WWII Trainer

Old style LSO - Landing Signal Officer

New style LSO - Landing Service Officer

Overall view of museum

Another overall view

We both went on a "mission" in the simulators

Pensacola coastline

Intercoastal Waterway

Gulf Islands National Seashore condos

Natural landscape fo the area

Sand and trees of the river side of the road

White soft sugar sand of the ocean side of the road

Pastel homes

This must be a great winter vacation spot

Great hotels

Beach Oats hold the sand from blowing away

Intercoastal Waterway

We stopped at a cute tourist souvenier shop

Arrrrr !! says Captain Larry

Intercoastal river

Lovely marina on the intercoastal side

Lambert's Cafe - home of the "Throwed Rolls"


Today was a great experience visiting the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum. The building was filled top to bottom with beautifully restored airplanes. We took the first guided tour of the morning by a retired helicopter pilot. After the tour we lunched in their Cubi Bar Cafe before watching the IMAX movie of the "Magic of Flight".

Larry enjoyed sitting in the cockpits and trainers, and we both went on a "mission" in the TOP GUN simulator. The displays were very well presented with so much information.

If you want more information you can click on Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum.

Aircraft Restoration Tours

Behind the pristine aircraft on display in the National Naval Aviation Museum are the thousands of hours of work that occur each year in the Museum's Aircraft Maintenance and Restoration Facility located behind the main building. Projects include multi-year restorations of warbirds recovered from beneath the surface of Lake Michigan to all aspects of maintenance on aircraft displayed by the Museum.

The mission of the National Naval Aviation Museum, an official Department of the Navy museum, is to “select, collect, preserve and display historic artifacts relating to the history of Naval Aviation.”

At the core of the Museum’s collections are more than 700 aircraft — most of which are on display at other museums, with approximately 150 located aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola. Though the aircraft are the largest of the Museum relics, they are just one dimension of the collection. More than 4,000 uniforms, flight gear, weaponry, medals and decorations add a personal touch to the story of Naval Aviation.

On the way back to the resort we took the southern route back going along coast. The beaches of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores are so beautiful with their white sand and aqua water. It is a popular area with many hotels and condos.

We stopped briefly to check out a cute tourist shop to see if we could buy a Tshirt or something to commemorate the trip. And also along the way we saw Lambert's Cafe who is famous for "throwed rolls" where the waiters throw the dinner rolls to you over the crowd.

Share |