Finishing off the museum run with my buddy, we hit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport Northern Virginia. I have not been to the museum since before Covid, so it was good to get back and check out what had changed. I knew they had recently added an F-15 Eagle. However, I was not sure what else and what they were working on in the restoration hanger.
We had some lunch and headed over for the afternoon. My buddy works for the airline industry, so he wanted to go up in the observation tower. For the first time, for me, there was not a long line! So, we headed up. There was a big storm coming in, so we got an impressive view. With all the clouds, they were shutting down the run ways, so we did not see planes coming it. The view is impressive. They have a terminal that has some of the airport traffic. However, I think this is a bit of an mis-opportunity. I think it would be better if they did a full sound pipe in from the main tower, with some monitors. But that is splitting hairs.
We then ran the floor. I found the F-15. They moved the F-14 (my favorite late Cold War aircraft), so you can now see it from the floor and get over it and see it from the top on the raised platforms. The WWII section had a number of things I had not seen here before (I saw some many years ago at Silver Hill). First was a fully restored Helldiver. They have finally fully assembled the He-219 Uhu, which is great. Squeezed in were a few Japanese plane and a P-38 that still are awaiting restoration. In the center, is their Horton fuselage.
We walked the civilian area where we found a drone that was dressed up as a Star Wars X-Wing! There were also a number of tiny consumer aircraft. I did not notice any changes to the space section.
We walked the overhead gang planks and then hit the observation area of the restoration hanger. There, we saw the work being done on a B-26 Marauder, an F-4 Phantom and a Sikorsky JRS-1. With that, we heard it was time to go and headed out. Always a nice visit, even if the parking is a bit pricy!
- Manteuffel