Washington DC

[RobertELee]

Tomorrow we have the Capitol tour planned

[RobertELee]

When I was last there, they had the B26 Marauder "Flak Bait" in the restoration hangar being worked on.

It's still there. When talking with one of the guides he said that will be there a few more years. The Smithsonian has a priority list and the stuff on the left side (space stuff) had priority because of the opening of a new exhibit at the downtown museum.



But I gotta say, we hit up the downtown Air/Space museum Friday afternoon and was a little underwhelmed by it. We were questioning if we should even go out to the Udvar Hazy center. SOOOO glad we did, that place is insane compared to downtown. The $100 in Uber fares was well worth it. Walking in and seeing the SR71 and Shuttle lined up was jaw dropping.

[TSmcam]

Great stuff! I like how they move the planes around there every so often. Flak Bait doesn't look much different than when we were there in 2018.

The Downtown Air and Space Museum was probably underwhelming because they are redoing the museum displays. As far as I know they haven't completed that yet?

[RobertELee]

Great stuff! I like how they move the planes around there every so often. Flak Bait doesn't look much different than when we were there in 2018.

The Downtown Air and Space Museum was probably underwhelming because they are redoing the museum displays. As far as I know they haven't completed that yet?

It was only one small section that is being renovated. Maybe it was just that the majority of everything was replicas, you couldn't get close to anything, and it was novels written about everything not just short interesting facts about stuff. And the crowds were insane because people had to spend 10 minutes at each thing to read everything. We left there saying 'thankfully that was free'.

Udvar-Hazy was much more interesting and had that WOW factor. Not very often you have a chance to stand next to that many iconic pieces of history in one place. We left there saying 'I would have paid $50 for that!'

[TSmcam]

It was only one small section that is being renovated. Maybe it was just that the majority of everything was replicas, you couldn't get close to anything, and it was novels written about everything not just short interesting facts about stuff. And the crowds were insane because people had to spend 10 minutes at each thing to read everything. We left there saying 'thankfully that was free'.

Udvar-Hazy was much more interesting and had that WOW factor. Not very often you have a chance to stand next to that many iconic pieces of history in one place. We left there saying 'I would have paid $50 for that!'

That is a shame about the Downtown museum. I recall when we visited there, we were all still jetlagged, and it was getting late. I wanted to see the Me262 (always wanted to see one in real life), and the Bell X-1 and the NA X-15. Glad I got to see them, although I was half asleep LOL

I agree, the Udvar-Hazy is fantastic, and I would pay $50 for it as well. So many interesting and rare aircraft on display. I would REALLY like to look through their storage facility, as they have more rare aircraft in storage.

[gcode]

And no, he didn't trip on the stairs.

because he's surrounded by 4 aids who hold him up, catch him when he stumbles
and keeps the press from filming the crash 

[Jim at Gentex]

because he's surrounded by 4 aids who hold him up, catch him when he stumbles
and keeps the press from filming the crash 

And I'm sure at least one of them is on diaper duty, for which no amount of hazardous duty pay can ever truly compensate.   

[RobertELee]

because he's surrounded by 4 aids who hold him up, catch him when he stumbles
and keeps the press from filming the crash 

I'll admit, he walked out fully under his own power about 8 feet in front of everyone. Very robotic, grabbed both handrails on the halicopter stairway and slowly pulled himself up. Wasn't fully aided, but looked like my grandpa when he was about 5 years into alzheimers.

[beej]

4 MORE YEARS! pause....

[Del.]

Remember he is fighting for the soul of America. Things couldn't be better!