Great aviation museum

In article . com,
Jay Honeck wrote:
Right now, it has an SR-71 sitting under the right wing. The blackbird
looks tiny.

My wife and I visited a couple of weeks ago. Terrific Museum. The SR71
IS small. I'd never seen one up close.

Um, the SR-71 is bigger than a World War II bomber, and almost as big
as a modern airliner.

"Small" it is not.

It looks small due to the narrow wingspan and small fuselage. The
wingspan of an SR-71 is only 20ft more then a Cherokee (55ft vs
35ft). Length is about the only measurement it isn't small in.
I remember walking around the one at the Air Force Museum and
thinking how small it looked.

For comparison:

SR-71 B-17 PA-28
----- ---- -----
Wingspan 55ft 7in 103ft 9in 35ft
Height 18ft 6in 19ft 1in 7ft 4in
Length 107ft 5in 74ft 4in 23ft 10in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa-28 (I've actually flown the Warrior
pictured in the article. I guess that's worth 15 seconds
of internet fame.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

Jay Honeck wrote:

IMHO there should be a regulatory process whereby stupid laws that
result in unintended results (like banning access for EVERYONE, in
this particular case) shall be repealed, or at least waived in special
circumstances.

Jay, NOWHERE in the ADA does it say that if something is not
accessible, that it should be closed to everyone. NOWHERE. There
are however plenty of mentions of 'reasonable accomodation' (the
thing is so full of loophole it is incredible that such issues
are still popping up); The ADA became law in 1991 if I am not
mistaken, that gave your museum over a decade and a half to do
something about it. There are numerous grants available to help
them do so. What seems to have happened is that as good as the
museum might appear, they failed to do their job, and are failing
to understand what the law actually says, and think they are covering
their asses by closing the exhibit altogether, blaming people with
disabilities for their own failing in the process. It is called
scapegoating by the way, and I find it rather sad that someone
otherwise reasonably smart like yourself is falling for it.

I tried to explain it using a silly analogy in a previous post,
but apparently it really didn't get through. Handicapist
prejudices are running too strong it seems.

--Sylvain

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
. net...

One thing I did notice was the B-25, which was bare metal.

Wow. Last time I was out there they didn't have a B-25. There's a guy
that owns a log truck company in Oregon who has a B-25. He's larger than
the average airman, so he used the top turret out of a Liberator so he could
make his way to the pilot seat. That bird has yellow cowls and is restored
immaculately. Really neat buy, but I gotta wonder how hard all the timber
economy is really doing out here if a trucking owner can afford a B-25!

They also had a windshield wiper on the bombardier's window in the nose,
but not on the B-17- first time I noticed this up close.

When the '17 was flying they had all kinds of equipment such as the chin
turret controls and things that they left out for weight. I wonder if
they've put it all in. The FAA made them install passenger seats in the
waist in order to carry passengers, which looked ridiculous. Trivia about
that bomber is that there's doubt that the serial number is original; the
airplane's logbook had entries blacked out by the military because it was
carried some sort of secret radio equipment after the war. Apparently,
it's in a James Bond movie too but I have no idea which. I have an old
post-war photo of it when it was assigned to the Japanese defense force or
whatever it was. Whatever its real designation was, it was one of the
last B-17s ever made. The manual bomb bay opening crank is located opposite
that of just about every other B-17 built.



-c

"Margy Natalie" wrote in message
...

Putting in all the stuff to make it accessible is EXPENSIVE and most
museums don't have much $$ (if any).

Yeah, but I wonder if it's necessary. OMSI has the submarine Blueback which
is open to the public, but there's no way that's wheelchair-accessible.
It's a submarine. Similarly, when the warbirds come to town and let people
tour them, I don't see wheelchair ramps, nor could I imagine some old vet
fitting a walker on a B-17 catwalk.

Hmm. Is it really necessary?

-c

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

There should be a grant process (for all I know, there is one) so that
historic (and perhaps other uses) items like the Spruce Goose could get
some monetary help in installing the equipment needed, so that all could
enjoy and learn about our history.

Well, the government gave them an F-15, and a freakin' SR-71 Blackbird...
it's conceivable!

-c

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
Right now, it has an SR-71 sitting under the right wing. The
blackbird
looks tiny.

My wife and I visited a couple of weeks ago. Terrific Museum. The
SR71
IS small. I'd never seen one up close.

Um, the SR-71 is bigger than a World War II bomber, and almost as big
as a modern airliner.


At the Boeing Museum of Flight they have a Blackbird cockpit that you can
sit in.

All the kids hover around the F-16 cockpit while their fathers sort of stare
at the other in something like teary-eyed wonder. I wonder how many
fully-grown adults throw tantrums when their wives tell them it's time to
get out and let the next guy play.

-c

gatt wrote:

Hmm. Is it really necessary?

No. The guy at the museum was pulling Jay's legs (both of them),
and Jay bought it hook, line and sinker.

--Sylvain

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
Right now, it has an SR-71 sitting under the right wing. The
blackbird
looks tiny.

My wife and I visited a couple of weeks ago. Terrific Museum. The
SR71
IS small. I'd never seen one up close.

Um, the SR-71 is bigger than a World War II bomber, and almost as big
as a modern airliner.

"Small" it is not.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"



It may be as long as the B17 parked behind it, but no where near as
wide. The wing is THIN, maybe a foot? The B17 probably has more internal
space in 1 wing than the SR has total. I had never seen one on the ground,
and I thought they were 1/2 again as large.

Al G

("Sylvain" wrote)
No. The guy at the museum was pulling Jay's legs (both of them), and Jay
bought it hook, line and sinker.


Ouch! That's brutal.

Either go with: "He took the bait, hook, line and sinker" or run with
something (anything) like: "He doesn't have a leg to stand on."

Please, please, please, DO NOT mix them!

Like I said ....Ouch!


Montblack :-)

Montblack wrote:

Please, please, please, DO NOT mix them!

ok, give me a break, I am learning :-) (what's fun is mixing litteral
translations of colloquial expressions from different languages.)

--Sylvain