Exploring Seattle Museum of Flight

Currently in Seattle staying with a friend and today the plan was to visit The Museum of Flight. The Museum is in Tukwila, which is located just to the south of Seattle. The day started with a little light rain, but the sun was soon shining, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Museum of Flight

The Museum of Flight is rather extensive. There are plenty of exhibits that cover a whole range of different eras of flight. Starting with some very early exhibits right through to the present day. Covering everything from war planes to passenger planes and a space exhibit.

Outdoor Exhibits

In addition to the main museum, there are a couple of aircraft on display outside. We started our visit at the museum with these aircraft located outside. The first one of interest is a Boeing VC-137B, this aircraft was in fact “Air Force One” from 1959-62. But it remained in service until 1996 as part of the presidential fleet.

The second aircraft we looked at outside was the Concorde. The particular plane that is on display first entered service in 1978 and operated until 2003. It also made the last commercial flight of the Concorde in October 2003.

Inside The Museum

Inside there are some rather extensive exhibits, mainly covering World War I and World War II. It is an eye-opening experience as in the past I have seen exhibits from these wars, but they have predominantly focused on ground warfare. It is very fascinating to see things from this different perspective.

The museum also includes a more general area along with a space area. One of the highlights of the tour was the Lockheed Blackbird M-21. Along with the simulated flight traffic control tower, which uses delayed feeds from the actual control tower at Boeing Field.

As it happens there was an aircraft taking off from Boeing Field, which can be seen from the Museum. The aircraft is a test model of the Boeing 747-8 which is the newest version of the 747. The 747-8 is the third generation of the 747 with redesigned wings, lengthened fuselage and improved efficiency.

The last exhibit that we visited was very interesting. However, it was also an area that photography was not allowed. The exhibit covered details right back to the birth of the aircraft with the Wright Brothers. Going right through to many of Boeing’s early achievements.

Seattle Space Needle

The other interesting stop that we made today is to revisit the Seattle Space Needle at night time. I love getting to the opportunity to see a city from observations decks at multiple times of the day. The only downfall is that I did not have a tripod with me so the image is not quite as sharp as I would like.