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Smithsonian Air And Space Museum Annex….The Udvar-Hazy Center.

We have visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum many times over the years and still find something new to see. We were not aware that the “Annex”, as this place is known, was even a thing. This place was so fascinating that we chose to come back the next day to finish up our viewing. We did our first virtual reality experience on day one as well as watching two movies at their IMAX called “Secrets of the Universe” and “Apollo 11”. We also took a docent guided tour for a few hours of extra information and stories. The docent was a former physicist that helped out with the shuttle program.

This was an awesome entryway. It was designed to honor all that have been involved in the flight industry.
Even though we were there on two separate days, we could not remember its name.
The middle tall structure is the observation deck that allows you to watch planes take off and land at Dulles International Airport. Very cool.
This is an experience that everyone must try. We were being transported into space and then around the International Space Station. At certain times we were holding on to avoid falling or getting out of the way of flying debris. The motion was really minimal but the graphics were “out of this world”.
We spent the majority of our time the first day exploring the space shuttle Discovery. It was placed here right after its last flight so much of it looks “used”. We much more enjoyed seeing all the authentic pieces rather than totally restored ones
What an awesome looking plane. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. This stealth plane could fly at mach 3 or 3 times the speed of sound (761 mph is mach 1). There were only 32 of them ever built.
Wow!
The Air France Concorde or, the SST as I remember it back in the day (Super Sonic Transport). Most US airports did not allow them to land as they created a very loud sonic boom as they surpassed the speed of sound. Growing up near the airports in NYC I distinctly remember those booms on occasion. There were only 12 ever made and a roundtrip from Europe to the states cost $12,000 in the 1970s.
Another fabulous view of this amazing plane.
The Enola Gay was a B29 bomber that delivered the atomic bomb to Japan to end WWII. One of the Japanese visitors who lived through the ending of the war saw the exhibit and told the staff he was thankful the US dropped the bomb because it probably saved millions of Japanese lives. He said most Japanese would have died trying to defend the homeland if we needed to actually invade to end the war.
The Enola Gay seen here has been totally restored. Too bad they did not leave it in the condition it was in when the museum got it?
They had a huge exhibit on plane engines. Very nicely done.
They also had the engines from prop planes in the exhibit next to all the generations of jet engines.
Their exhibit regarding helicopter flight was also top notch.
This rotorcycle was extremely intriguing to us.
Would you fly it if you had the chance?
We hiked on the AT with a pilot of one of these Intruder fighter jets in Vietnam. Tom was quite the character and said he wished he could have taken us for a ride in one.
Back in the days before digital photography spy planes would mount their film cameras under the body of the plane in one of these capsules. When the film was used up it would be dropped to a plane at lower altitudes waiting to catch it for developing. Boy have we come a long way in the past few decades eh?

Below are some of the many photos of COOL planes we snapped:

What fabulous history here.
The Flying Wing

If you are ever near our nation’s capital make sure and visit the Annex. It is free but you do need to pay the $15 airport parking fee.

4 Replies to “Smithsonian Air And Space Museum Annex….The Udvar-Hazy Center.”

  1. Imagine the math involved with dropping a film cannister from a moving plane, flying on a spinning ball hurtling through space, to another moving plane flying in a different direction on that same spinning ball. That is crazy.

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