National Naval Aviation Museum

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We visited the National Naval Aviation Museum on the base.  This place is huge.  Aircraft of all kinds are parked or suspended from the ceiling.  I saw a plane similar to the last one Amelia Earhart flew.  I saw the "Mission Accomplished" plane that George W. Bush flew onto an aircraft carrier.  They actually had a simulated aircraft carrier experience where we could feel the wind, see the sights, hear the loud sounds and smell the jet fuel.  That was pretty cool.  I saw a plane where the gun shot through the propeller.  When my father in law was in the service during WWII, his job in Florida was to time the gun so it shot between the propeller blades.  If he didn't get it right, the propeller would be shot off.  The aeronautical acrobats, the Blue Angels are based here in Pensacola.  As we toured the museum we kept hearing the sound barrier being broken.  One section on the upper floor had a glass ceiling. We watched the Blue Angels practicing for the air show on Saturday.  Wow.  They are something to see.  They fly so close together it looks like they're only inches apart.  Barrel rolls in the sky - loop de loo's - all kinds of crazy stunts.  More than once I have grabbed Offspring #1's arm in terror saying, "Look!  That one is crashing!"  He calmly assures me they're doing that on purpose.  And he's right.  It's just that it looks like their engine died and they're falling from the sky to a certain death.  It makes me quite anxious.  We saw some planes doing tricks on the beach last night and I freaked out then too.  In Minnesota we just don't see planes spiraling downward looking out of control.  Here in Pensacola, it's common.  One section of the museum was dedicated to the Vietnam prisoners of war.  They had a film clip taken by the Vietnamese Government showing a service man being interviewed.  He kept blinking his eyes.  In Morse code his blinks spelled out the word t o r t u r e.  Golly.  What those guys had to go through was incredible.  They had their own tapping alphabet code and they did communicate.  Some communicated for years before they got to meet face to face.  I can't imagine.  John McCain was interviewed about it and he said that the POW bracelets that people wore along with the public outcry about the treatment of the POW's made a difference.  In the final year of imprisonment conditions improved.  He was taking out of solitary confinement and allowed to mingle with the other prisoners.  For him being able to mingle with others was a greater pleasure than being released.  I wore one of those POW bracelets.  After visiting this museum I am more proud that I did wear it.