Visit the New England Air Museum for Things to Do in Connecticut

Looking for fun things to do in Connecticut? The daring and imagination that went into inventing, designing, building and flying the amazing machines we use to carry us aloft is incredible; still, we often only see these marvels at a great distance, 20,000 feet in the sky or on the pages of books. There is, however, a place where it is all brought close, a place to wander among and appreciate the machines that freed us, in the last hundred years, to travel like the birds, to look down at the earth below, and to shrink our world. The New England Air Museum is one of the many exciting things to do in Connecticut , located at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.

A recent visit to the museum enthralls with the variety and sheer ingenuity of those who aspired to fly. From the first manned flight on American soil, a balloon ascension witnessed by five presidents, to the use of the airplane as a weapon of war to the improbable contraptions like helicopters, dirigibles and flying boats, this is a collection that will hold the attention of the entire family,

The aircraft on display are arranged in a series of connected hangers. The first in line is the Military exhibit hanger, housing planes dating back to World War One. A replica of a 1917 Fokker Triplane, made famous by the exploits of Baron Manfred von Richthofen-the Red Baron-exemplifies those early days. It was made of wooden sticks covered by stretched cloth, had a top speed of 105 miles per hour and fired its machine gun through the whirling blades of its propeller. At the other end of the scale is the McDonnell-Douglas F-4D Phantom II, a top American fighter jet, flying close to 1,500 mph and at more than 50,000 feet in altitude while carrying 8 tons of bombs and rockets.

World War II, with its vast scale and scope, prompted the development of many famous flying machines. Parked in the hanger are, to give just a few examples, a gull-winged Vought XF4U-4 Corsair; a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, which, although not entering service until 1943, accounted for 75% of the Japanese planes shot down by the Navy, and a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, the same model of land-based bomber that General Doolittle flew off aircraft carriers in his famous raid on Tokyo. Interspersed with the planes themselves are unique relics such as a crate containing an entire portable landing strip-lights, mast anchors, tools, manuals, stakes and everything else needed for resistance members to set up a clandestine runway behind enemy lines on short notice.

One of the most ingenious devices on display is a tiny, stubby plane that never left the ground. This is a Link Instrument Flying Trainer, Type ANT-18, used to teach thousands of military and civilian pilots to fly "blind." The plywood trainer, containing all the controls found in a real plane, is mounted on a pedestal that reacts to the controls to simulate the pitching, banking and turning movements of an aircraft in flight. The trainee would enter the cockpit, pull the plywood canopy down to block out all visual reference points, and "fly" the trainer using only the dashboard instrument readings, sounds and radio signals found in actual instrument flying. The museum's Link Trainer is maintained in fully operational condition.

A showroom containing historical artifacts, like an original Wright brothers airplane engine, connects the Military hanger to the Civil Aviation hanger. In the showroom is a replica of the basket of the balloon used by French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard in the first manned free flight to take place on American soil, in Philadelphia on Jan. 9, 1793. The ascension was witnessed by President Washington and future presidents Adams, Madison, Jefferson and Monroe.

The Civil Aviation display opens with another basket, this one original and very significant, because it is the oldest surviving aircraft in the United States. Connecticut aeronaut Silas Brooks made 187 balloon ascensions in this wicker gondola, starting in 1870. To generate the gas for each of his flights, he needed 2,400 pounds of sulfuric acid, 2,000 pounds of wrought-iron turnings, 5,000 gallons of pure water, 2,000 pounds of ice and lesser amounts of lime, sugar, lead and chloride of calcium.

This cavernous building hosts antique and modern hang gliders, a Bleriot 1917 monoplane, an extensive exhibit on the life and achievements of airplane and helicopter pioneer Igor Sikorsky, racing and stunt planes like the 1934 Marcoux-Bromberg Special and the BeeGee, the control cabin of a blimp, pieces of the wreckage of the great and tragic airship Hinderburg and a Lockheed Electra, sister ship to the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared somewhere over the Pacific.

There's a little Piper Cub nearby a DC-3. Many examples of this rugged early airliner, built from 1935 through 1947, are still in use today, a remarkable testimony to its practicality and durability.

Dominating everything in the hall, though, is the majestic VS-44A Flying Boat "Excambian," built by Sikorsky in 1942 for nonstop commercial transatlantic passenger service. Its seats converted into railroad-style berths for overnight flights.

From the Civil Hanger a connecting corridor leads to the 58th Bomb Wing Memorial hanger. The 58th flew many missions in the Pacific Theater during the second World War, and the centerpiece of the memorial is the massive, gleaming silver B-29 Superfortress "Jack's Hack."

Another exit from Civil Aviation goes to the Outdoor Exhibit Area, where the visitor can wander among early jet fighters, including a Chinese MiG-15, a Caravelle airliner, a U.S. Army "Sky Crane" helicopter and many others.

But this is all just a taste of what the museum has to offer. Rather than continue to read a list enumerating all of the sometimes quirky, but always marvelous, flying machines and related memorabilia to be found here, why not go and see for yourself? TIt's located next to Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks; You can learn more by visiting the museum's Web site at neam.org.

Article provided by Homesteader