This is our third visit to this great museum. We enjoyed this visit as much as we did before. As we entered we were greeted by friendly personnel and volunteers ready to get us started on our tour. We joined a free tour and stated by learning about aircraft carriers with a scale model of the George H. W. Bush Nimitz Class carrier. We then saw planes from early days of aviation including a Sopwith Camel similar to the one used on the Battleship Texas in the early days of aviation. It was interesting learning about that early flight from a different perspective. I also, liked seeing the dioramas from the early days including pigeons in a coop awaiting their time to carry messages where needed. We then moved on to the World War Two planes. A model of the flight deck of the U.S.S. Cabot is set up so we could see what flight deck would look like. We also saw a model of the atomic bomb used in Japan to end the war.
There was a room set up to look like it was underwater and we could “see” what some of the planes still under Lake Michigan look like as they were left there after the war.
Our guide walked us over to another building called Hanger Bay One where we saw modern day aircraft including a Marine One Presidential Helicopter, and also airplanes used in Korea, Vietnam, and Dessert Storm. The Coast Guard Aviation Exhibit was interesting with an HH-52 Seaguard and photos of early coastguard aviators.
The most striking exhibit for me was the Blue Angels and the American Flag. For families with small children there is a play area where they can run free and not hurt themselves.
Again, this was our third visit to this great museum and there’s a good chance that we will return on future visits to this area.