In brief, these posts serve to introduce new readers — and reintroduce regular readers — to photos from the early days of this blog and, occasionally, to photos from days before this blog came into existence.

Today’s stroll on memory lane is another quick one . . .

The original post for these photos is HERE, and the photos are from THIS Gallery.

These photos are from ten years ago, so some of the items might not currently be on display.

I’m referring to photos from the National Air & Space Museum, A. K. A. the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

So, here we are . . . summarizing the wrap-up post of the National Air & Space Museum series.

Note: I just found out that all the links to the Smithsonian’s own catalog changed. That means that — in the original posts and the seven previous Sunday posts about the museum — any link referencing the museum’s database will return a dead link error (error 404). I fixed the links in this post, but I’m not going back through the original or recent Sunday posts to update the links. One, because it’s a lot of work, and two, because no one mentioned it. If you’re looking for the Smithsonian’s entry for a plane, just search under the name.

It’s a shot post and a small gallery (only 19 photos).

Basically, stuff that didn’t quite fit in the other post, stragglers, and a few photos of flying planes. I mean actually flying planes, not planes that are hanging and appearing as if they were flying.

The caption for the photo — the one in the SmugMug Gallery — has links to information about each of the listed planes.

The plane that jumps right out is the Loudenslager Laser 200, complete with the Bud Light markings. The plane won an unprecedented seven U. S. National Aerobatic Championship titles between 1975 and 1982. You can read a bit about the plane HERE, and about the pilot HERE.

It’s worth noting that 20 members of the U. S. House of semi-Representatives, as well as a number of organizations, objected to the Bud Light emblem remaining on the plane.

“It will drive the kids to drink!” was the rallying cry.

Gaining my respect, the museum stuck by its policy of not altering artifacts, and now countless children are rolling around in dark alleys, drunk as skunks. No, wait . . . that didn’t happen.

That I know of, no one objected to retaining the Pennzoil logo on the De Havilland-Canada DHC-1A Chipmunk (the plane next to the Laser 200). Unfortunately, there are now millions of people drinking Pennzoil motor oil . . . a nation tragedy flying (get it? . . . flying . . . nevermind) under the radar. The Smithsonian’s entry for the plane is HERE.

The Mooney Mites were produced between 1947 and 1955 for the private market. Designed for extremely low operating costs, it was marketed to pilots returning from WW II who wanted to keep flying. The single-seat plane had limited appeal, and the design was modified to accommodate four people. In the 1970s, the company offered plans for four different homebuilt versions of the craft.

Production of the Mite ended in 1954, with 283 Mites being built. As of 2010, there were 168 mites registered in the US and 3 in Canada.

. . . we should try and rescue the three kidnapped by Canada. Here’s the Wiki on the Mite.

From the Smithsonian  LINK on this plane:

“In 1934, the Bureau of Air Commerce recognized the Waterman Arrowplane as one of the two award-winning designs for its flivver (i.e., light, easy-to-fly and affordable) aircraft competition. Waldo Waterman’s improved Arrowplane, the Aerobile #6, fulfilled his dream of designing a tailless roadable airplane. 

The Aerobile was a two-place, high-wing, cabin monoplane with a transmission drive system that operated the propeller in the air and the rear wheels on the ground. The one-piece wing was removed by moving a lever and pins. Painted in “Buick blue,” it had many standard Studebaker, Ford, Austin, and Willys automobile parts to keep the price down and maintain the look of a car. It received FAA certification in the experimental category in 1957, but no market materialized.”

That’s right; the proverbial flying car. To all the people who bitch about not having flying cars, it’s not that it wasn’t made; it’s that not enough people wanted them.

It was also known as the Waterman Arrowbile, and if you click on the link, you’ll get a fairly detailed history of it.

The Globe Swift is a sporty general aviation plane with superior flying characteristics. All-metal, with retractable landing gear, it handled like a fighter, was a major advancement over wood-and-fabric sports designs, and was surprisingly economical to fly. The Smithsonian entry for the plane is HERE.

Cops are forever wanting advantages when it comes to doing their job. This next plane was one of them: the Lazair SS EC. This particular aircraft was the second ultralight tested by officers of the Monterey Park Police Department in California.

The Ultraflight Lazair, with a total production of over 2,000 aircraft, holds the distinction of being the most produced Canadian-designed aircraft. Note the change in name . . . the Smithsonian has it as “Ultralight”, but the Wiki has it as “Ultraflight”. Probably means the same thing; I don’t think the plane actually cares.

I’m again reproducing the text of the Smithsonian’s entry for the Aeronca C-2 as it is worth reading:

“The Aeronca C-2 was the first truly light airplane certified by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Aeronautics and produced in substantial numbers in the United States. Safe, economical, and easy to fly, this delightful but unassuming monoplane changed the face of aviation by tapping a new market, that of private aircraft ownership. This Aeronca is the production prototype; it first flew on October 20, 1929. 

The single-seat Aeronca C-2 and the two-seat C-3 capitalized on the enthusiasm of the post-Lindbergh flight era by offering small and affordable designs to the general public. During the depression, while many larger aircraft proved to be too expensive to operate, the Aeronca C-2 sold for under $1,300 and could be rented for only $4.00 an hour. This Aeronca flew for 10 years with several owners.”

Four dollars an hour to rent . . . $1,300 to buy. I might be tempted . . . Aeronca sold 164 of the economical C-2s at the height of the Great Depression in 1930-1931, helping to spark the growth of private aviation in the United States.

And that, boys and girls, is the last of the photos from inside the complex.

Of course, the place is right outside an operating airport, so you can also take photos of working planes. This is a Boeing 777-222, the world’s largest twin-jet with the largest-diameter turbofan engines of any aircraft.

That’s what I wrote back then . . . I presume that’s still the case.

You know, despite all evidence to the contrary, these things still don’t look as though they should be able to just hang there, pretending to fly. Oh well.

And this concludes the review of the seven eight posts — and associated SmugMug galleries — documenting my visit to the museum.

Next up is the slideshow.

Note: the transition is set to 2sec (I didn’t include the captions because some are very long), but — if you move the cursor anywhere within the photo — you’ll see a pause button on the lower left, and, once paused, you can use the left and right arrows on both sides of the photo to navigate the slideshow. It will make it easier to read the captions.

I highly suggest watching these slideshows in full-screen mode, but that’s just me.

You’ll exit the slideshow and find yourself in SmugMug if you click anywhere in the photo instead of the pause button. You can then scroll through the photos or interact in other ways.

Slideshow of the Air and Space Museum Final Gallery — (19 photos)

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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