DEL.ICIO.USWhere things that fly inspire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, June 07, 2009
CHANTILLY, Va. — The B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, on Hiroshima, Japan, was itself almost defenseless.
Most Superfortresses had five remote-controlled gun turrets, quite an innovation at the time, and armor plating. But to make the Enola Gay, named for pilot Col. Paul Tibbets’ mother, as light as possible to accommodate the weight of the almost 10,000-pound A-bomb nicknamed “Little Boy,” it had only two tail guns and no armor.
Betty Gordon/bgordon@ajc.com
The Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber named for its pilot’s mother, dropped the ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, on Hiroshima, Japan. It is the largest preserved military aircraft in the Smithsonian collection.
Betty Gordon/bgordon@ajc.com
The 122-foot-long space shuttle Enterprise dwarfs everything else in its hangar at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
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“It was souped up and stripped down,” said Art Hamilt, a guide and former naval aviator, standing on a skywalk near the plane in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which opened in 2003.
The Enola Gay, in the Smithsonian’s possession since 1949, took almost two decades to restore. Today, the polished aluminum, 99-foot-long aircraft with a Plexiglas nose and cockpit is as shiny as the day it came off the Martin Co. production line in Omaha, Neb. (Boeing developed the B-29 and built many of the planes, but some were also built by Martin and by Bell Aircraft in Marietta.)
The Enola Gay is one of the star attractions of this Smithsonian branch outside Washington, where more than 160 aircraft and more than 150 space artifacts that are too large for the National Mall location are on display, many of them hanging from the ceiling. In addition, there are more than 1,500 smaller items, such as full-scale replicas of the Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner Rover.
The Udvar-Hazy Center, named for its major donor, the chairman and CEO of an international aviation firm, draws about 1 million visitors a year, about a fifth of the number who tour the better-known Mall location. But the center is every bit as fascinating for anyone remotely interested in machines that fly.
Those who make the trip to the museum near Dulles International Airport will be rewarded with a chill-producing survey of aviation history, from pre-1920s memorabilia to decades of military aircraft, to passenger planes, to the rockets, satellites and missiles of the Space Age.
Here’s a look at some of the awe-inspiring aircraft (visitors cannot go inside but touch-screen kiosks show some interior views):
The Enterprise: This is as close as most of us will get to an authentic, gleaming white space shuttle, and it’s the centerpiece of the 80-foot-high James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. The orbiter is the same size (57 feet tall, 122 feet long, 78-foot wingspan) as the in-service Endeavour and other shuttles, but the Enterprise was designed only for atmospheric flights and ground experiments. The tiles that cover its surface are only simulated thermal and the Enterprise has no propulsion system.
Its early role was for approach-and-landing tests, and later for vibration checks. It also has served as a goodwill ambassador, appearing at the 1983 Paris Air Show and the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: It’s black, it’s sleek and it almost screams “spy.” The Cold War-era twin-engine, two-seat supersonic reconnaissance plane is the fastest jet-propelled aircraft in the world. The titanium plane, delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1964, had a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 and could reach an altitude of more than 16 miles, allowing it to fly high and fast into and out of hostile territory. Its paint was intended to absorb radar signals, dissipate some of the heat caused by air friction and act as camouflage. The jet on display set a speed record on its last flight in 1990, covering the distance from Los Angeles to Washington in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 20 seconds, an average of 2,124 mph.
Air France Concorde: The supersonic needle-nosed jet, which could accommodate up to 100 well-heeled passengers, was flown by Air France and British Airways. It had a top speed of 1,350 mph and could cross the Atlantic Ocean in under four hours. Only 20 were built. The plane displayed was the first Concorde delivered to Air France and the first to open service between Paris and New York, Paris and Washington and Paris and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After 17,824 flying hours, it was retired in 2003 (as were all Concordes) and donated to the museum.
Gemini 7 capsule: The Apollo 11 command module that carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon in 1969 is at the Mall museum, but Gemini 7 helped pave the way for that success. The primary mission for astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell was to show that humans could tolerate weightlessness, which they did for 14 days in December 1965.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” model: You can’t beat this for pure whimsy. The 400-pound wood, plastic and metal craft made from model train parts and other kits served as the alien mother ship for the 1977 Steven Spielberg movie. See if you can find post-film additions from the model-makers such as a tiny R2-D2 android, a Volkswagen bus and a U.S. mailbox.
If You Go
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. every day except Dec. 25. Free. 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, Va. 202-633-1000, www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/. $15 parking.
Other features: Free docent tours, free museum shop entry, free 164-foot flight observation tower; admission extra for several Imax films, including “Fighter Pilot,” which puts viewers in the cockpit of an F-15; and planetarium shows. 202-633-4629. A McDonald’s is on site.
By public transportation from Washington: Take the Metro’s orange line west to the West Falls Church Station. Catch the Washington Flyer ($18 round trip) to Dulles airport. Then look for the Virginia Region Transportation Association shuttle bus (50 cents) that stops at the Udvar-Hazy Center. You can also take a Metro bus from L’Enfant Plaza all the way to Dulles airport for about $5. Washington Flyer info: 1-888-927-4359, www.washfly.com. Washington Metro info: 202-637-7000, www.wmata.com.
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