Kyushuj7w
Airman 1st Class
Another of the found in your own back yard places to visit. Something not to be found anywhere in the country to my knowledge. A little over an hour from my house across the river in PA. Really nice museum with some one of a kind on view items. The docent, a veteran of commercial airlines going back into the 60's let us in to the restoration room/hanger where they are working on one of the few existing R-4 helicopters left in the world today . The first US helicopter used in WWII by forces in the Pacific and Burma. They have a small helicopter I was able to squeeze into and could see the effects of moving the controls on the rotors overhead. You use both hands and feet to fly these. The hands on exhibits and history panels are very interesting. I did not realize the extent of the development of the helicopter and autogyro in this area but it is rather significant. We have 3 helicopter producers in our region. I only knew of one.
The Osprey went through a lot of teething problems and a lot of people lost their lives. It was being developed at the plant close to the Philly airport when they still rehab the ancient Chinooks today. I still wonder about the survivability of it regardless of armor and other measures. I've read they were kept at a distance in Iraq and Afghanistan when dropping troops or supplies. Maybe any of the vets here familiar with the situation can dispell that story. Not sure if that was true or if the intent was ever to get in as close as Vietnam era choppers.
A nice theater with films on helicopter development that you typically see in some of these museums
We ended the day at the Brandywine Revolutionary War battlefield as it was a few miles away. Run by the state of PA the museum is every bit as nice as some of the National Parks Service sites. A nice museum with exhibits, a film, two homes that featured in the battle built in the mid 1700's a road map to the prime battle sites in the area . The house tours include where Washington had his HQ in the home of a fighting Quaker and a huge tree and home of a neighbor pacifist Quaker who's home and lands the British ransacked. This home & tree are featured in Andrew Wyeths paintings. His museum is also close by. The tree is still alive and was there at the time of the signing of the Declaration of independence. More troops fought at Brandywine than any other battle of the Revolutionary War. 30,000. It was also the longest single-day battle of the war, with continuous fighting for 11 hours. Washington's loss here led to the capture of Philadelphia but he saved his army to fight another day.
The Osprey went through a lot of teething problems and a lot of people lost their lives. It was being developed at the plant close to the Philly airport when they still rehab the ancient Chinooks today. I still wonder about the survivability of it regardless of armor and other measures. I've read they were kept at a distance in Iraq and Afghanistan when dropping troops or supplies. Maybe any of the vets here familiar with the situation can dispell that story. Not sure if that was true or if the intent was ever to get in as close as Vietnam era choppers.
A nice theater with films on helicopter development that you typically see in some of these museums
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