Sawse - Stir it Up!

A visit to the National Air and Space Museum, one might lead a person to think of it as a tribute to one of the most amazing passions and fascinations of man. The aircraft and space craft that are on display at the museum really can leave a person spell bound.

The museum brings to life the early years and of aircraft, which were characterized by both war and the birth of commercial airline systems. Though the museum highlights almost all aspects of the history of American flight and aircraft, the museum does not deal with darker events that have occurred, such as plane crashes.

The National Air and Space Museum gives fans of aircraft a chance see some of the more interesting historical planes up close. The museum was established in 1946 and is a one of a kind museum that features the world’s greatest collection of spacecraft and air craft. To a certain extent, the NASM enables the average person to gain a deeper understanding of how some people made it possible for all of us to take to the skies.

The museum features planes that were made long ago, and that are still of significant importance even today. Of course the displays are not limited to aircraft alone. The museum gives us a perfect example of the fact that in the past the USSR and the US would go to just about any extent to win the race to get into space. For instance, the museum had to be renamed to incorporate the word space. This was in fact America’s way of showing the world that it was taking the “Space Race” quite seriously. Apart from this, because of the endlessly increasing number of aircraft and spacecraft, NASM found the need to build another building that could incorporate some of the much larger aircraft from the past.

The museum contains several sections or galleries that are dedicated to certain kinds of planes. For instance there is the Space Race gallery, as well as the Milestones of Flight Gallery – which showcases developments that occurred over the years both in airplane and spacecraft technology and design; there is also the Pioneers of Flight Gallery; and finally the Aviation in WWII Gallery.

The Aviation in WWII gallery – is as one would guess, dedicated to aircraft from the Second World War. This gallery features planes and aviation technology that were used during this time of rapid development. It features many famous planes from the World War II era.

For those who are interested in modern aircraft and technology, there are airplanes that feature the latest developments in aviation science. Also, there are several commercial aircraft on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

To the layman, some of the aircraft designs might look rather bizarre! For example, airplanes with a long tube coming from above the front end nose section. To the aeronautical engineers among us, each aircraft design might seem like an obvious amalgamation of lines and curves brought together to make a marvelous flying machine.

The National Air and Space Museum allows you to view all of these magnificent and brightly colored aircraft up close. As you enter the museum, if you look up above you will see several huge planes that hang from the roof of the building. They really are a truly magnificent site to behold! Also, unlike most modern museums you can also photograph some of the items that are featured in the museum.

The museum also features several other items and is not completely limited to aircraft and spacecraft. For example, there is a large computer that was used decades ago. The computer is made so many large parts and it is large enough that it could actually occupy an entire room at the time of its use. But you gamers out there don’t get overly excited… it was used for scientific purposes.

It is commendable how the human race has managed to move from air craft that could only stay in the air for a few seconds to the development the modern aircraft of today that can fly faster than the speed of sound, or carry passengers across great expanses of sea and land.