Last week while in Orlando to visit my lovely Princess at her castle, I went by the Warbird Adventures air museum in Kissimmee. The "museum" is actually an open hangar where items that could become museum exhibits are stored, and it costs 11 bucks to go in and see. OK, it's not
that bad, but is
is an open-sided hangar so it's not air conditioned, and at least half of the pieces are still packed for shipping. You can also take a ride in a T-6 Texan, and even get some stick time, if your level of disposable income is high enough. Myself, I couldn't part with nearly 300 bucks for a quarter of an hour. They have longer flights, and the longer ones offer aerobatics, as well.
Anyway, some of the exhibits...
They have one of the six Aerocars built. It's the 4th and last of the original Aerocars, and the only one still in flying condition. There were also one Aerocar II and one Aerocar II built, so this right here is one quarter of the world's supply of originals, and 1/6 of the complete set!
The wings and tail in the trailered configuration for the road.
And a picture of it assembled and flying
Arrow Sport, and American biplane from 1929. if you look at the Wikipedia page for the Arrow Sport, this very aircraft is featured in one of the photos
Most of a T-6 Texan. They actually have several, with at least three that are flyable.
A Cassutt, for the Reno air races Formula One class
This picture on the sign shows how tiny it actually is!
A MIG-17. Sort of.
And its engine, with afterburner
The museum actually has two of these, this one outside, and another in not quite as good condition indoors. A polish jet trainer from the 60s, the TS-11 "Iskra." It competed for the Warsaw Pact jet trainer contract and lost to the Czech Aero L-29.
Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. Based on the Merlin, with almost half again the displacement, better supercharging, and twin counter-rotating props, a version of this putting out 3200 HP was used in a Reno unlimited-class P-51 called "Precious Metal." That airplane had limited success at the races, and while flying to the 2015 event caught fire and burned while taxiing to the runway after refueling. They had said it was done for, but last year announced that they were going to rebuild it. I bought a Precious Metal souvenir to support the effort... a thong panty for my girlfriend....
When it flies again, I can say that I helped!!!!
OK, their Stearman is not exactly a busted-ass piece of debris out behind a shed; this is a nice-looking airplane!
