Visit to the USS Midway Museum

I was recently in San Diego for my brother's wedding and had a chance to visit the USS Midway museum on the San Diego waterfront. 

Entrance to the Midway Museum

They have done a nice job keep the carrier in good shape for the public and there were a lot of people going aboard when I was there.

We entered through the hanger deck (none of the photos from the hanger deck turned out) and from there it was a short walk up to the flight deck. We decided to take a tour of the island before the line got too long.

A view of the island from the flight deck

From the island we got a good look at the flight deck with a preview of the aircraft we would see later.

The aft end of the flight deck

The central part of the flight deck

And the forward end

There was a guided tour of the island, but after that we were free to wander through some belowdeck areas where the Admiral and Captain would hang out. The museum has some nice displays in these areas.

One of the radar displays in the Admiral's area

Midway's communication center

Then it was back up to the flight deck to look at the aircraft. The museum has some interesting aircraft. Some are common and some are a little more rare.

An F4F-3 Wildcat (the 4-gun version)

An EKA-3 Skywarrior

An A-1 Skyraider

An A-7 Corsair II

An F-4N Phantom showing the Vietnam MiG kills by Midway fighters

An F-8 Crusader

My nephew wanted a little closer look at the plane

A C-1 Trader

An E-2 Hawkeye

An RF-5 Vigilante

Nose-on with an S-3 Viking

A CH-46

A Huey UH-1 gunship

An HUP vertical replenishment helicopter

An H-34 Seabat (powered by a radial engine, not a turbine)

An SH-3 with markings for picking up Apollo capsules

My nephew helping launch some planes

We could see USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) docked at the Naval Air Station across the channel

And PCF-816 a Vietnam era river patrol boat from the San Diego Maritime Museum

Always good advice to follow

We had to leave in the early afternoon and didn't get through the whole ship (I would have like to see the engineering spaces), but it was worth the time to visit.



Summer is usually a slow time for my hobby work, since I'm typically outside doing yardwork for my wife. But I'm going to try to get some projects going.