Connecticut / New England Air Museums - The New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks CT (1 Viewer)

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Kyushuj7w

Airman 1st Class
This is about and hour and a half away from Rhinebeck Aerodrome in NY . The 1979 Windsor Locks tornado ( yeah they get them in Connecticut ) destroyed quite a few of their outside displayed aircraft. The entire museum was moved to its current location and rebuilt. They still have quite a few rare planes on display outside including a Skyray and a Skywarrior. They have a speaker on a wall that is connected to the Bradley International Airport control tower. You can hear the communications between the tower and in-coming and out-going planes. While we were there it was raining, heavy overcast and a pilot on approach sounded really nervous. Further down on the airport perimiter road from the museum is the CT Air National Guard base. They have a few aircraft on display outside but by the tiem we left it was too dark to get good pics.

Take a long weekend and hit this museum and Rhinebeck or the USS Intrepid in NY harbor or the sub museum at Groton CT. Things are pretty close together in New England. In Groton is a small State Park dedicated to one of the last battles in the American revolution in the North that gets scant attention. Fought on September 6, 1781 between a small militia force led by Lieutenant Colonel William Leyard and the more numerous British forces led by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. The Battle of Groton Heights (also known as the Battle of Fort Griswold, and occasionally called the Fort Griswold massacre. Even when surrendering the militia and their commander was stabbed and shot. They had done lot of damage ot the Brits before their walls were breached

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They did a great job with the restoration. Some rare one of a kind 1930 racing examples, Blimp gondola etc. The entire museum is very good. Well worth the stop if your in the area. Great gift shop with a good book and unframed print selection that is very inexpensive if you want some interesting items for your man caves. Some nice kits reasonably priced but also a few rare ones obviously from a donated kit stash and ebay priced.
Admission
Adults (ages 15-64) - $15.00

Youth (ages 4-14) - $10.00


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What a great collection of aircraft! I'm delighted to see some flying boats preserved. That's really a "2 day visit" museum.
My wife can't travel so I may have to divorce her for a while.
 
What a great collection of aircraft! I'm delighted to see some flying boats preserved. That's really a "2 day visit" museum.
My wife can't travel so I may have to divorce her for a while.
Get a life like copy of your self made ( see robot thread) and put it in your favorite chair. One that says yes dear, your right dear , I'll get right on that dear , I'm sorry dear ( make sure that last one is repeated at least 3 times in succession) for 24 to 48 hours. to what ever stimuli offered. That will give you a window.

On some long airlne flights where I could not escape I often wished I had one. This is where they have you cornered, the stewardess will only let you hide in the restroom so many times :) Once I really lucked out on a flight to Hawaii. A flamboyant individual sat next to her, she in the middle seat I on the aisle....... They talked trash housewives reality TV, fashion, house decorating etc the entire way to Hawaii. I almost cried in gratitude. I think he could have set up a rather lucrative business model if he gave it some thought.

Dreading that 6 hour flight next to the wife where she will out of the blue bring up the time you made eye contact with the 65 year old Olive Grden waitress for too long in 1994? Here is a rental idea to consider.
 
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It is a great place! It has been a couple of years sense I have visited. I really enjoyed seeing the Blimp Gondola and the flying boats. Are they still working on the P-40 that was recovered from the everglades?
 
I think they just transferred their F4D Skyray to the Intrepid Museum (I get upset when exhibits move to a different museum). They used to have an XF15C, which went to Quonset Point's museum, which closed after a structural failure.

Conveniently, there are a couple of manufacturers (P&WA, Kaman, Sikorsky) within a few miles and a few more, such as Doman which weren't to far away. I probably worked with more than a couple of the volunteers who later were involved on the VS-44 restoration* (when I was at Sikorsky, one of the somewhat older engineers mentioned a retired engineer who got to ride on one of the last Sikorsky seaplanes in operation. He got called into the cockpit by the pilot who had some questions.....

* Which I was not.
 

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