National Museum of Aviation

 While on the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, we visited the aviation museum there. They have over 130 different airplanes or vehicles there. It was quite impressive! The Blue Angels are based here, so there were planes the kids could crawl up in for a photo and there was also an atrium with four of the Blue Angels flying in formation.

 There is a deck of a battleship in the center as well as models of aircraft carriers and all kinds of things I don't even understand!

 This atrium was really impressive!

 A lot of the main building was centered around WWII, while more current wars and years were out in the new hangar. We saw one of the first fighter jets from the Germans that was shown in the movie Red  Tails. I thought it was interesting that in two days, I saw the Red Tail plane and the Nazi Jet Fighter.

 In addition to the planes, there was a lot of historical information and memorabilia. One area upstairs had a little town set in the 1940's, which I found very interesting.

 Front of the presidential helicopter.

 Around the little 1940's grocery store, the "asphalt" had old bottle caps embedded, which flooded by memories from my childhood. When I stayed with my cousin, we would walk up to the little store down the road to buy a drink and snack and you could see all the different bottle caps that had been pushed into the asphalt warmed by the hot Florida sun.

 In the hangar, they had the helicopter that transported President Nixon and also a plane that transported George H. W. Bush.

 There was a section about prisoners of war with videos of men telling of the experience.

You could tell that some of the men visiting had experienced the sights themselves. This man was showing his wife things in this Vietnam footage and it seemed to come from first hand knowledge. It reminded me of walking around the D Day Museum in New Orleans and seeing so many veterans from WW II showing their family sights they experienced. That was a few years back, as I imagine there aren't as many WW II veterans able to visit today. Just as the battleship made me think of my Uncle Rudy and his service on the Battleship Reno in the Pacific and the night he decided to sleep on deck as it was hot, a decision that probably saved his life and the area where his bunk was located was torpedoed that night. I am so thankful for all you served! If you are in the Pensacola area, this museum was definitely worth visiting!