The Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, WA (Part 5)

I think this aircraft was the most produced by the Russians in WW2. It's called the Storm-o-vik" ( English version) and it was the tank buster that our A-10 does very well today.

 

Here's how the Russians spell it but what do they know. This panel describes how important it was to winning the war.

 

Every city had hundreds of these searchlights to find enemy planes at night so that the anti-aircraft guns could attempt to stop the bombardment. Once you were in the spotlight all anti-aircraft guns were aimed at you!

 

This German plane is called the Stork as it was light and nimble. One of its kind rescued Mussolini from the Italians holding him on a mountaintop and this was the only plane that could land and take off from such a place. A few months later they were able to hang him in Milan.

 

The P-47 Thunderboat had a huge aircooled engine that could take a beating and keep flying especially after doing strafing of locomotives, rail yards and anything else of value.

 

This Russian Mig 29 was an air superiority fighter that could take off and go straight up to 35,000 feet in 1 minute. It is the only piece of equipement that does not fit into the WW2 era. The first one was built in 1983. Two engines and twin tailed opponent in the thousands. I recomend all of you to visit this museum if you have any interest in military equipment like I do. Paine Field inn Everett, Heritage Air Museum.

The Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, WA (Part 4)

In building 2 there is more WW2 history with these huge semi-translucent photos depicting the conditions the soldiers had to endure. Fight the enemy and survive the weather and terrain.

 

Look ma, no turret. It needs to turn the tracks to get in the direction of the target it wants to shoot at. The extreme slope of the armour means that a shot could bounce off its surface. It looks like a mean tank to me.

 

The famous T-34 with an upgraded gun to counter the German's 88 mm gun on wheels or in Tiger tanks they were sending into the Russian territory. It's strange to see one in winter garb.

 

If the wing folds then it is a Navy carrier fighter. The F6F was the backbone to the Navy's strike force in the Pacific after the Battle for Midway. It was tough and manouverable to keep

up with the Zeros.

 

The best the US had in 1940 was the P-40 Warhawk when we sent about 100 of these to fight in China before we got into the war. The teeth was part of the fear for the enemy to see who was coming their way. They were not very good against the Zero.

The Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, WA (Part 3)

This old bird is the British Hurricane that was the backup airplane to stop the German assault on England in 1940-41. Note the construction on the body and if you ever built a balsa model back in the day you can see the same construction to build the frame.

 

The famous P-51 Mustang with the bubble top canopy for better viewing instead of the original design. it was a dud as a fighter when it first came out and until they put in a Merlin Rolls Royce supercharged engine did it have the capacity to fly fast and have long legs to fly all the way to Berlin.

 

A plane from another era was this Russian 2 seater that flew at night with women pilots without parachutes because they weighed too much and they needed to drop bombs on the Germans and not worrry about the safety of the girl pilots! Ouch! Talk about the war on women!

 

It was as mean as it looks was the nong nosed FW-190 Dora. The fat blades tell you it was no average fighter.

 

There were many of these photo collections going all around the room depicating the different enemies and allies point of views.

 

The Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, WA (Part 2)

When was the last time you saw a real V-2 rocket? I never did until last Sunday when we visited the museum. This was the ultimate terror weapon on the day. Packing about 2000 pounds of explosives and it arrived in England without warning. It is also the granddaddy to all intercontinental rockets today. Sobering.

 

This terror weapon was the V-1 that had a pulse motor that was launched on a ramp aimed at England. When it ran out of fuel it fell on some town or field. It became a high priority target for our bombers to knock them out. Interceptors could also knock them down. Some pilots used their wings to disrupt their flight.

 

They had the nose of a British Avro Lancaster bomber on display as well. The pilot was in the top cockpit, The bomb aimer seems to have 2 jobs including the nose machine gun operator. Maybe it was 2 guys up front.

 

In 1943 it was the top bomber technowledgy in the British bomber command. The radio guy sat behind the pilot's chair.

 

No it is not a joke as it may appear but this thing is a rocket plane that was very fast for the era. it would have to be timed well when the bombers were heading their way. it went very high and then glided into the bomber fleet then coast back to an airfield. Our fighters would wait for them as they approached the airfield and would make them easy targets.

 

Each display had a information sign near it to explain what they were looking at. I want to go back and read each one someday. I am a military nut as well as a railroad nut.

 

The Flying Heritage Museum in Everett, WA (Part 1)

Before the football game on Sunday we visited the Flying Heritage Museum near Paine Field where all those Boeing passenger planes are assembled. Boy was I impressed with the quality and selection of WW2 equipment they did on display.

 

The first one that caught my eye was this B-26 that is similiar to the ones that bombed Toyko back in 1942 with Gen. Doolittle. This one has extra 50 cal. blisters to do lots of strafing on the islands that the Japanese occupied back in the day.

 

A nasty airplane was the Mitsubishi Zero that dominated the skies over the Pacific until the F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs could challange them. The Zero was fast and long range as it

was built like a lightweight glider with no bullet protection for the pilot.

 

Talk about nasty, this is the feared 88mm gun that could bring down a US bomber at 30,000 feet or knock a hole in a Sherman tank with enough power to knock out another behind it.

 

The plane that saved England...the beautiful Spitfire that almost did not get built. Imagine us getting involved in the WW2 without England there as our base to fight the war?

 

This German fighter is the dreaded ME-109 that was a tough cookie for our bombers and fighters to go up against. Only the P-51 Mustang had the edge over it.

This BNSF is a garbage train!

This spot used to have a substancial wood bridge that I shot many times over the years with real train passing underneath, but now I have to put up with garbage trains!

 

Yes, real garbage trains as you can see by the tarps covering the tops! So BNSF makes money on our garbage, we'll have to keep them busy!

 

Another thing they haul are concrete ties at the CXT plant at Trentwood, WA This unit is running backwards but who am I to tell them which way to go?

 

Missed it by that much!  It goes to show that I don't get all my shots but this one was going slow enough for me to get out the camera from the console, take off the lens cap, turn on the

power, get the telephoto right and push the button.....a little too late.

 

I don't remember seeing a ballast train in a very long time and I caught this one passing Napa Street on safe grounds from my car window. Note the sun power grills on the sides

of the cars.

 

What is it?????  I would guess it is a rebuilt Model T but what do I know about cars? Is that a fuel tank or a depth charge?

Caught in the act!!!!

After checking out the fire alarms and making sure our insurance was paid up, Mike decided to connect 2 wires that were not connected to something because something wasn't working. No explosions or smoke was detected on our impromptu gathering on Sunday afternoon at the club.

 

These are the visitors and members who were at my 50th Anniversary party the night before and I invited them to stop by and see what we've been working on. My wife for one plus Jim T and wife, Kent C and wife, Burt W and suspenders, Alice's maid of honor from New Joisey, I even was able to get the big guy Mike A to show up!

 

Here is 800 pounds of model railroaders including my older brother Ed to the left. Yes he is from New Jersey as well and came 2650 miles for my party with his wife Marie.

 

Mike B had his 4 unit GN F unit set pulling about 18 cars and they ran well considering the wireing was holding up.

 

Scott S built a highly detailed chain link fence for the fuel dump and I had Burt install it. All it needs now is weeds!

 

The guys made me share the gatheirng of equipment that we had running Sunday and GN wins the popularity contest.

 

 

Evergreener's put on a show for the visitors.

The Evergreen club F45 helps out a power short GN train as it passes the Red line station at Bakersville.

 

Burt had his 4-4-0 working on the Green branch and it ran perfectly.

 

Another gathering was held at the back of the layout with triains coming and going in and out of the tunnels and bridges. When there is a train in the tunnel the opposing train cannot enter thanks to Big Al ( name withheld per his request )

 

All thre railroads are apparent in the shot as the Green line is on the bridges and the other 2 fight for turf in the valley.