Last Thursday I decided that Quincy and I needed to go on a road trip and do something. Now, there is very little to do in the immediate area, so we had to drive a bit to get somewhere interesting. I felt that Quincy really needed to visit his first museum before turning one – his first airplane museum. We drove over to the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport where there just happens to be a museum – Wings Of Eagles (used to be called the National Warplane Museum).
I have been to this museum once before and was excited to show Quincy the B-17 that they own. They also have several other vintage aircraft along with some modern ones on display. Well, we were gipped. The museum sold their B-17 to get out of debt and they were selling their PBY as well. There really isn’t going to be much left soon. I took Quincy to the static displays before the guided tour of the restoration area.
The F-4 Phantom was cool. Some (okay, my dad & Frank) have a weird love for this plane. I’ll never get it – it is okay, but how dumb was it to originally construct it without a cannon in the nose? The F-15 out front is cool. The engines are gone – apparently Uncle Sam takes engines for spare parts as they last much longer than the airframe.
The guided tour was good. There were eight of us including the guide. Besides the guide, Quincy and I were the only men there – which I found kind of odd. Quincy was well behaved as long as he had his Cheerios fed to him at regular intervals. Since the restoration area was not air-conditioned, we both wilted before too long so we were quite happy when it was finished. They have a MIG-17 that is being restored by the owner. He’s worked on it for 12 years. One of the ladies in our group asked him (he was there working) if the plane had a name. His answer? “The Aluminum Mistress. At least, that’s what my wife calls it.” We took off pretty quickly after the tour since it was getting to be past Quincy’s normal nap time. He slept the entire way home. Here’s a few more pictures.
I hope to take Quincy to a better museum sometime and then to an airshow. I’m sure they must have airshows up in Bangor since the airport was an old military base.