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National Museum of Naval Aviation - Pensacola NAS
 You know, we are truly blessed with many aviation museums around the country. If you think we aren’t, just travel somewhere outside of your country and see the sad state other countries aviation museums are in! Really it can just about make you think the Davidson county Air & Science Museum in Nashville is great, and that’s a fictional place!
We have the National Air & Space Museum, the Air Force Museum in Dayton, the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, and the list goes on and on and on.
I’m going to zero in on one of the museums above that I’ve really learned to enjoy each time we go there. Yes, my wife goes with me and with a side trip to Mobile, Alabama to the USS Alabama and Belengrath Gardens, we sort of share the week. That’s right I said week. Our last trip there, we spent a day driving down and back 3 days at the museum and two more on the Alabama coast.
Was this our first time there? No. My first time at the Naval Aviation Museum was many, well several years ago when I was twelve. We took a 1966 Plymouth Fury III to the gulf coast and just happened to go to Pensacola for our vacation. The beach was the big thing then, at least till we went to the fledging museum. I had a ball taking photos of the airplanes parked around the park then. But the museum grew and continues to do so, uh come to think of it guess I did too.
Today for modelers and I must stress that point, the museum of Naval Aviation is one of the very best places for modelers to obtain documentation. Why? Is it better than other museums? In my humble opinion it’s the best in the United States for modelers, that I’ve been to. But that old question of why comes back again, why?
It’s simple, unlike all of the other museums, you can eat off the floor, its so clean, the airplanes are accessible and not totally roped off to where you can’t get close to the airplanes to take photos. Much of this is due to the army or I guess I should say Navy of volunteers who work there. It’s well lit, in fact it’s one of the best lit museums anywhere in the world. Most of the aircraft the U.S. Navy flew or fly now is either inside or very near. For much of the museum there is a upper deck which allows you to look out over the top of many airplanes or obtain different views for photos. They have an ongoing restoration facility very close and continue to work on various different and rare types of aircraft full-time.
Ohhhhhhhh, sounds good so far doesn’t it. Well I’m just starting everyone. Many of the U.S. Navy retirees like the Pensacola area and why not, the climate is great, so is the food and what better place to see and hear F-18s, F-14s as well as T-34c aircraft buzzing around all day. But several of the retirees have dedicated their spare time (what’s that) to helping preserve and research information for modelers, historians as well as Naval buffs.
This museum has a full-time staffed research facility and library which is open to the public. It’s best that you make an appointment before going to the research area and have a list of what your looking for, handy too. They also are continuing to look for more information on aircraft in every era, that were flown by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. They will make photo copies for you there at about $1 each for an 8x10 and will send photos by e-mail to you free of charge if they have what your looking for.
I spent about a day and a half just in the research area, looking up different aircraft for friends as well as myself. They also have a lot of history of the airplanes that are presented in the museum too. Like the Vought SB2U Vindicator dive-bomber they recently restored and have in the museum now. It’s the only one of it’s kind anywhere in the world. I do wish they had finished it in a pre-WWII color scheme which would be much more colorful, but it’s in the medium blue you see many SBD Dauntless dive-bombers.
This airplane was delivered to squadrons in 1937 and was the first monoplane scout-dive bomber delivered to the U.S. Navy. By the time we entered WWII, the SBD Dauntless had began to replace the ole “wind Indicator”. The museum’s airplane is the last SB2U-2 version of the Vindicator delivered to the fleet. It was recovered from Lake Michigan 47 years after it crash landed during carrier operations training with the USS Wolverine IX-64.*
The wings still fold and if you are patient and ask the right person they have in the past actually folded and unfolded the wings. Remember patience, and asking nicely can help us all there. High handed attitudes and trying to make volunteers rush a job can lead to nothing happening at all.
Ok, you’ve been around the museum and found several aircraft you want to photograph, but forgot film, they have it. Plenty of places to sit down also which can come in handy when you’re reloading your camera with batteries or film. There is also a theater for those who would like to take a break and guess what, the Blue Angels are one of the films available in the IMAX format. The Pensacola base is the home base for the Blue Angels and if you are very lucky you can get to see a practice session where they do the air show at the base.
For more information about the museum, please contact:
Admission is free, but for all it has to offer it’s worth much, much more.
A nice place to stay:
Comfort Inn NAS Corry, Pensacola, FL
3 New Warrington Rd., Pensacola, Fl 32506
Phone 850-453-3445
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A partial list of aircraft on display
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Curtiss A-1 Triad (float plane) |
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Fokker DVII |
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Curtiss MF Flying Boat |
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Ford RR-5 Tri-motor |
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Grumman F3F-2 |
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Grumman F9F Panther (straight wing) |
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Grumman F6F Hellcat |
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Douglas A3D/ A-3 Skywarrior |
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Boeing N2S Kaydet “Stearman” |
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TO/TV “Shooting Star” |
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J2F-6 Duck |
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Douglas F4D Skyray |
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PBY Catalina |
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Beechcraft GB-2 “Traveler” Staggerwing |
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SNV-1 Vultee Valiant |
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Consolidated PB4Y-2 “Privateer” |
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Grumman F7F “Tigercat” |
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Grumman F8F “Bearcat” |
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McDonnell-Douglas FH-1 “Phantom” |
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North American FJ-1 “Fury |
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North American A-2 “Savage” |
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Grumman S-2 (S2F) “Tracker” |
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Douglas F3D “Skyknight” |
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North American A-5/RA-5C |
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Thomas Morse S-4C Scout |
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Nieuport 28 |
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Curtiss F6C-1 Hawk |
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Fleet N2Y-1 |
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Curtiss NC-4 |
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Vought- Sikorsky F4U Corsair |
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Martin P5M/SP-5 Marlin |
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Timm N2T-1 Tutor |
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Martin AM Mauler |
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NiK2 “George” |
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OS2U Kingfisher |
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SB2C Helldiver |
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Douglas C-47 “Skytrain” |
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PB2-y “Coronado” (in restoration) |
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Curtiss SNC-1 |
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Martin AM “Mauler” |
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Douglas JD Invader |
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Grumman HU-16 “Albatross” |
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Lockheed SP-2H “Neptune” |
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Grumman AF “Guardian” |
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North American T-28 “Trojan” |
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Curtiss F9 C “Sparrowhawk” |
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McDonnell-Douglas F2H Banshee |
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Cessna JRC T-50 (USAAF Bobcat) |
Cubi Bar Cafe
By now you are probably smelling the food from the CubI Bar Café there in the museum, where you can sit down and have a modestly priced lunch, yes Navy beans are available, without leaving the museum or the base, which to modelers is just really handy neat to sit looking at hundreds of airplanes too.
The Cubi Bar Café offers an upscale lunch menu and décor that chronicles the many deployments to the Western Pacific by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps units. Literally hundreds of plaques, once covering the walls of the Officers Club at NAS Cubi Point in the Philippines, now adorn the restaurant’s walls. Returned to the United States following America’s departure from the Subic area, the furnishings of the club were carefully stored as historic memorabilia. The Cubi Bar Café was designed and built to duplicate part of that famous club.
For 40 years of deployments, squadrons and other units customarily presented a plaque or emblem to the Officer’s Club as gestures of thanks and remembrance. The custom generated a local industry among Filipino woodcarvers, whose imaginations and expertise brought the endeavor to the level of fine art. Many of the plaques not only capture Naval Aviation history, but the artistry and creativeness of Philippine culture.
Most meals will run you about what a fast food restaurant will cost and they have a kids menu with meals for them also.
If you are going to the museum, expect your car to be checked inside and out. I would suggest going there on a Monday-Wednesday as field trips usually occur on Thursday and Friday (any museum anywhere). Wear comfortable walking shoes, take plenty of film and I usually take a notebook for comments about different aircraft. Take a camera with the strongest flash you have. Even with great lighting, you need that extra punch with a strong flash for detail and undercarriage prints.
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