Finally visited the Smithsonian Air and Space M

j1b3h0

Line Up and Wait
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Doug
And was...somewhat underwhelmed. Sure, the real Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright flyer and lots of space related hardware were on display, but after the EAA Museum, it was a letdown. I found it odd the way the museum had such a grandiose display of Amelia Earhart replete with Vega replica, and, by comparison, a puny display of one of the greatest pilots who ever lived: Jimmy Doolittle. I was also a bit put off by the apparent race-baiting...drawing the viewers attention to the fact that all passengers in round-engined airliners were white.
All rants were forgotten, however, the moment I entered the Udvar-Hazy hangar at Dulles. Now THAT'S A MUSEUM!
 
Have visited the hazy museum four times,anytime I'm in the DC area I make a point to go by.that and the Air Force museum are my favorites.
 
Downtown is the sound bite of aviation. The average visitor time is like 20 minutes (unless they can suck them into the IMAX or lunch). Yeah, HAZY is much better.

If you want to the full experience at either location find the docent desk and ask about a docent led tour (the one at Hazy is to the left rear of the SR-71 in front of the elevator, on the mall it's located in front of the escalators opposite the Independence Ave entrance). Not only due these docents to through an indepth 22 week initial training and ongoing recurrent training, but many of them have significant aviation backgrounds in their own right. A tour from them is always fascinating.

Of course you're not doing either one right now due to the do-nothing congress. Margy's out raking the yard and not receiving a paycheck.
 
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