8/8/2023
I started my day going to another museum. This time it was the Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum in Kalamazoo, MI. When you walk in, there is a pink P-40 Warhawk hanging above the front desk. You then walk into the main hall and the Blackbird is on the right with a Tomcat and Hornet next to it. On the left there are the WW2 and civilian aircraft.
This Blackbird is special because it’s one of the two seat trainers. They had stairs so you can walk up to see into the cockpit. Some other aircraft of note were the XP-55, Corsair, the Gemini and Apollo capsules, and a few missiles.
After checking out the main building, I walked over to the Flight Discovery Center. As you walk in there are a bunch of piston aircraft engines including a full size WASP engine with propeller and an engine cowl from an A-10 that took heavy damage during the Iraq war. The most interesting aircraft in the hall was the F-117 Nighthawk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these up close. They had the bomb bays open and a bunch of the original crew signed the interior. They had stairs up the rear of the plane to showcase the engine outlets. It was very interesting to see how they they worked to hide the heat and radar signatures.
After walking around the museum for a couple hours I went to Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. I had to check out where 2 hearted ale is made. They were nice enough to let me hang out and do some writing as I tried their brews.
