Pensacola, FL and Foley, AL side trip.

Because we decided to stay at the Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope, AL a few days to spend time in Fairhope and also wait on our new remote for our Auto Pilot to show up, we decided to drive over to Pensacola, FL and visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Since I spent more than a year in Pensacola as a student going through flight training, then three years as a flight instructor in the Advanced Helicopter Training Squadron, it was like coming back home. Even though the Pensacola I knew was barely recognizable after 37 years of being away!

The museum is a world class aviation facility that tells just the story of Navy and Marine aviation from its infancy to the present.

This is the primary helicopter trainer that I first learned to fly helicopters on. The TH-57 (also known as the Bell Jet Ranger).

Below is the advanced fixed wing trainer that was used for formation flights, instrument training and carrier qualification, the T-28B/C. It was a lot of aircraft because it was basically a WWII fighter aircraft converted to a trainer. Unlike the Army and the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps train their pilots to fly fixed wing aircraft first then transition them into jets or helicopters.

This is the mighty Sea Knight, the CH-46. This was the workhorse of the Marine Corps in Vietnam and the aircraft I flew while in Vietnam. Capable of carrying 25 Combat Loaded Marines, with a crew of four and sporting two .50 caliber machine guns, it could lift 23,000 lbs.

The CH-46 is still flying in the Marine Corps but is rapidly being replaced by the new Tilt-Rotor MV-22 Osprey.

The AH-1J Attack Helicopter is the gunship we relied on to protect us as we landed or picked up Marines out of the rice paddies or mountains of Vietnam. I later flew this aircraft while stationed in Hawaii, after leaving Vietnam.

It is still amazing to me that all of the aircraft I flew in the Marine Corps, either while in flight school or in the fleet, are now hanging from a ceiling in a museum!

Maybe someone is trying to tell me something!!??

A real WWII Fighter, the F-4U Corsair. The Japanese called her "Whistling Death" because of the high pitched whistling sound she made in a dive. One of the two propeller driven aircraft I wished I could have flown.

The other prop driven aircraft, the A-1 Skyraider, that I would have loved to have flown. She could carry TONS of ordnance and stay on station as long as twelve hours without refueling.

Also on exhibit at the museum was an older version of the White Top VH-3 used to transport the Presidents. This version is the VH-3A, used to transport President Nixon. The version I flew for President Carter and President Reagan was the VH-3D, and is still in use today. 

In this display they have folded the blades back along the fuselage. This was only done when the aircraft was being prepared to be shipped overseas.

The bronze statues of pilots debriefing a mission. Pilots have a tendency to talk with their hands.

On the way back from Pensacola, we stopped off in Foley, AL to eat at Lambert's Cafe. They have been in existence since the 1940's and are famous for their "down home cooking and 'thrown rolls'".

The "thrown rolls" are just that. Every few minutes one of the servers will roll out a cart with huge, fresh, hot dinner rolls on it and walk among the customers. All you have to do is raise your hand and he throws you the roll, regardless of whether you are right next to him or across the restaurant from him. It made for some great catches and fun!

Incoming roll!

Another successful catch!

Our last evening and sunset at the marina in Fairhope.

One never grows tired of this view!