Continuing with pictures from Pediem’s and my visit to Udvar-Hazy NASM at Dulles Airport.
Again, clicken to embiggen on any picture.
This one is for Ev! And Ev, I didn’t see a single thing being held on by duct tape!!! 
QH-50C, better known as DASH
And guns… It’s a gun blog after all…
Browning 30 cal on the bottom (e.g. wings), 50 cal flex mount (e.g. wings), Ma Deuce on top (also waist guns).
And this is the first Presidential helicopter- President Eisenhower used it in 1957 to fly from DCA to Camp David (I can’t believe the USAF let this get taken over by the Marines…LOL
Bell H-13J (forerunner of the Jet Ranger)
And they have Baumgartner’s capsule from his parachute jump earlier this year…
This one is one of my personal favorites…
Talk about pilots that clanked when they walked… They were lowered attached to a ‘trapeze’ then flew off, coming back to ‘catch’ the trapeze again to ‘land’…
Hence the insignia on the side. This bird actually flew from and returned to USS Macon.
Curtiss F9C-2 Sparrowhawk
And then we got into the ‘other’ bay…
This one needs to explanation… She’s been rode hard and put up wet, but she made it back. I can’t help but think of Challenger and Columbia and the losses there when I see one of these though…
And a few close ups…
The rockets on this sucker are just plain HUGE (and one time use), the smaller nozzles are the OMS engines, which were used to maneuver in flight and for retro rockets to de-insert from orbit. Interestingly there was NEVER a failure in an OMS engine during the entire life of the shuttle program.
And a close up of the thrusters used for ‘fine’ maneuvering… in total there are 38 primary and 6 Vernier thrusters on a shuttle…
And the ones on the nose… replicated on both sides or course…
And the APU (kinda critical, they have two, lower center) and more thrusters upper left
And yes, each tile IS numbered to a specific location, and you can see damage on the tiles above the black ones…
There’s one more post in the hopper, one more airplane and a story with it…
I live vicariously through you.
In considering a career for my dotage, I’ve often thought that the perfect place for me would be one of the old guys who works at an air and space museum. Just donate my time and be there. Not a bad way to live life.
The closest I’ve been to a space shuttle was the one in Houston which they let the tourists wander through. It was never anything but a high-end mockup, though.
I’m still jealous.
Hey, the Army flew the President around on a rotation up until Carter.
I would abstain from that duty, too. Lol
USS Macon….she was so pretty. Like the pre war carriers, just in the sky.
Fun fact: A couple of Fraternity Brothers and road tripped to the Cape to see the last launch of STS Endeavor
Ed- You don’t have to… Road trip!!! 🙂
LL- Yep, until somebody argues with you… LOL (I’ll tell you THAT story end of the month).
ht.
Rev- Road trip! ;-D
SPEMack- It IS a special sight…
NFO,
Is that a mock-up “special weapon” under the DASH?
N91- 🙂 I can neither confirm nor deny…
Nice pics. Udvar-Hazy is a very cool place indeed.
Aaron- That it is… Especially if you’re an airplane nut! ;-D
Back in 1994 (25th Anniversary of Apollo 11), my wife and I were treated to an open house at KSC, courtesy of a friend who works there. You had to be escorted by a badged employee, so he took us everywhere. Shuttle landing strip, Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) where a Shuttle was on jack stands, just out of reach. They had a replacement SME (Shuttle Main Engine) available for photo ops – they are huge!
Lunch was at USB (United Space Boosters) with a SRB frustrum in view just outside the cafeteria. The VAB was off limits, and we ended the day in the as yet to be completed ISS facility.
A day we will never forget.
Aucontraire on 2 points: 1, the Space Shuttle Main engines were reused after removal and reconditioning. re:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_main_engine .
2. there were actually 3 APU’s on each Shuttle. For example, the crew on STS 6 had problems that should have led to an abort during re-entry at the end of their simulated 54 hour mission. The Flight Director asked if they wanted to abort, but I’ll never forget Cmdr. Weitz’s reply; “aw, what the heck. Lets go for it,” Apparently they had already lost one apu, and the 2nd. went offline about 8kft, with the 3rd. on rollout. Phew!
Doctor Story Musgraves comment regarding that exercise was classic: “What a horrible trip. That’s the last time I’m riding this lousy airline ;)”
Fortunately, he (and they) did the next Monday, and experienced a nearly flawless mission.
On a personal note, I experienced a complete loss of all apu’s at about 48Kft. during a re-entry, followed by a spin entry by ~46kft. at which point I informed my “pilot” that that’s it and proceeded to pull the PIP pin and my D-ring
and relaxed. Suddenly, I heard a tremendous racket from the “pilot’s” position, & looked over to see the widest eys I have ever seen. He didn’t know about PIP pins, and coudn’t eject (; I informed him that 1, I wasn’t there, and 2, that he was supposed to know how how to get out before ever riding along. Fortunately, Simulation saved that day, as well as STS 6’s. Gotta love simulators. 😉
Right next to the hangar where sat our two Dash helos was the armory holding a few each of MK46 and MK 48 torps. The 48’s were the ones that made mushroom clouds if memory serves!