After a visit from out West, my parents had a homeward bound flight to catch at Dulles—a perfect chance to check out the Udvar-Hazy Center, the National Air and Space Museum’s enormous facility that shows off all the cool planes and spaceships that don’t fit in their Mall site.
While I am impressed by the concept of flight and amazed, in a general way, by advances in aerospace technology, the idea of an excursion to see planes and more planes made me feel a snooze coming on. But I did it for Dad, a retired United Airlines dispatcher with a fondness for flying machines.
We paid $15 to park—a fee that rankled until I read that it was meant to deter airport users. (Dulles is only four miles away. There is a free shuttle between the airport and the museum—a great layover idea, I think.) Entrance into the Center is free and once we got inside, the parking fee annoyance evaporated.
Three levels of walkways circle the perimeter of immense hangars, and planes are everywhere. Perky, yellow circus “Jennys” dangle from rafters like toys, positively dwarfed by giant spy planes, chalky gray and ominous.
Aircraft of all conceivable shapes and colors fill the space, suspended from the 10-story-high trusses. Even for someone not so interested in the history of flight and the contributions rising from military needs and subsequent space exploration, the sight of thousands of flyers all massed in these giant rooms was awe-inspiring.
The Enola Gay is there.
So is the Space Shuttle Enterprise in a room hung with satellites, like holiday decorations.
The super-sonic Concorde rests in ironic and silent stillness, sleek and long on the hangar floor, a misfit amongst tiny hovering biplanes.
In glass cases, you can ogle an assembly of Charles Lindbergh collectibles or china and furniture festooned with designs representing another flight craze—hot air balloons. A teacup, salvaged from the Hindenburg (see video here), rests next to its saucer—a reminder of the failures amidst all the soaring successes.
You’ll see Amelia Earhart’s pilot goggles and her stylish flight jacket, but you won’t find her Lockheed Electra—it’s been missing since 1937.
You can take a free tour and hear tantalizing tidbits like what I overheard as we lingered for a moment at the Blackbird SR-71A: “…if a bullet was shot alongside this plane, the plane would outpace it.”
In fact, this stealth bomber has flown from New York to Los Angeles in 64 minutes. That’s 2,094 miles per hour. Look, it’s crazy fast—nothing flew faster. And it’s parked just inside of the front doors of the Udvar-Hazy Center. Next time your dad’s in town, go see it.
