Gordon's San Diego Air & Space Museum pics : IMGP0041

[Dave Kearton]

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Cheers

Dave Kearton

[Luke]

"Dave Kearton" > wrote in message
...

Thats a replica, isn't it? I though that THE 'Spirit of St Louis' was
in DC at the Smithsonian...


Luke

[Luke]

"Dave Kearton" > wrote in message
...

Thats a replica, isn't it? I though that THE 'Spirit of St Louis' was
in DC at the Smithsonian...


Luke

[Dave Kearton]

Luke wrote:
> "Dave Kearton" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> Thats a replica, isn't it? I though that THE 'Spirit of St Louis'
> was in DC at the Smithsonian...
>
>
> Luke



Gordon's response


"The Replica we have of the Spirit is indeed a replica, by definition -
i.e., a product built to represent a previous article, made by at least some
of the original builders. Ours just finished a year-long ground up
restoration and is in good enough shape that I would fly it away today.
Everything works, even the periscope.

After the fire in 1977, it took about four days before the workforce
mobilized to rebuild. We moved to the other end of the park and took over
the historic Ford Building, a holdover from the San Diego World Expo in the
high art deco style.

We currently have over 100 aircraft, many of which are original and
historic - we have the real "Showtime" F-4 that Duke Cunningham used to down
a MiG; we have "Gumdrop" the Apollo 9 Command Module. In addition to a
large and comprehensive aircraft and missile collection (we have an Atlas
ICBM, Tomahawk, etc.), we also have the third largest library in the county
and our archives hold over half a million original photographs. Who knows
how many blueprints, but it fills several rooms.

The gem in the crown is our basement restoration and fabrication complex.
As each aviation company in San Diego has passed into history, they all have
brought their jigs, tools, and machines to our basement, where these
industrial-weight anachronisms still meet up with their former operators as
they roll out a new aircraft about once a year. Currently, we are in the
final stages of building a Gee Bee racer and our P-26 is about 8 months from
completion. We recently pulled our Wright Flyer out of the full-scale
diorama on the display floor for a total restoration, so its in pieces on
the basement floor.

The average age of our large volunteer workforce is over 85, and 90% of the
guys are retired from the local aircraft industry. We have Ryan employees,
technicians from Consolidated, Convair, and Vought and several other
companies - even Bowlus. At the crowded lunch table, its common to have 150
to 250 years of aviation experience swapping stories and sharing sandwiches.
Its a fun place to work. "





--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

[Dave Kearton]

Luke wrote:
> "Dave Kearton" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> Thats a replica, isn't it? I though that THE 'Spirit of St Louis'
> was in DC at the Smithsonian...
>
>
> Luke



Gordon's response


"The Replica we have of the Spirit is indeed a replica, by definition -
i.e., a product built to represent a previous article, made by at least some
of the original builders. Ours just finished a year-long ground up
restoration and is in good enough shape that I would fly it away today.
Everything works, even the periscope.

After the fire in 1977, it took about four days before the workforce
mobilized to rebuild. We moved to the other end of the park and took over
the historic Ford Building, a holdover from the San Diego World Expo in the
high art deco style.

We currently have over 100 aircraft, many of which are original and
historic - we have the real "Showtime" F-4 that Duke Cunningham used to down
a MiG; we have "Gumdrop" the Apollo 9 Command Module. In addition to a
large and comprehensive aircraft and missile collection (we have an Atlas
ICBM, Tomahawk, etc.), we also have the third largest library in the county
and our archives hold over half a million original photographs. Who knows
how many blueprints, but it fills several rooms.

The gem in the crown is our basement restoration and fabrication complex.
As each aviation company in San Diego has passed into history, they all have
brought their jigs, tools, and machines to our basement, where these
industrial-weight anachronisms still meet up with their former operators as
they roll out a new aircraft about once a year. Currently, we are in the
final stages of building a Gee Bee racer and our P-26 is about 8 months from
completion. We recently pulled our Wright Flyer out of the full-scale
diorama on the display floor for a total restoration, so its in pieces on
the basement floor.

The average age of our large volunteer workforce is over 85, and 90% of the
guys are retired from the local aircraft industry. We have Ryan employees,
technicians from Consolidated, Convair, and Vought and several other
companies - even Bowlus. At the crowded lunch table, its common to have 150
to 250 years of aviation experience swapping stories and sharing sandwiches.
Its a fun place to work. "





--

Cheers

Dave Kearton