Thursday, June 7, 2012

Legacy Flight Museum

We finally made it to the Legacy Flight Museum in Rexburg Idaho after trying to go there earlier when it was closed and we are glad that we did. This is just another example of a small town museum that is excellent. We had the museum all to ourselves so we got a very good guided tour. What we liked probably the most is that there were some things we have never seen before. The Legacy Flight Museum is also a working hangar, any plane that you see on display is airworthy and is seen frequently in the sky over Rexburg. For a fee they will even take you along.


What tipped the scales as to whether or not we would go to this museum was the Grumman TBM-3 Avenger that they had on display. This particular Avenger flew off of the deck of the USS Wasp (CV-18) the same aircraft carrier that Bob's dad was on flying the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. This Avenger, flying of the USS Wasp on July 28, 1945 sank two Japanese ships on the same day, a light cruiser and a destroyer escort. 9.386 were built and today only 42 remain airworthy, as this one is.






Here is a P-63, one of only 3 that are airworthy.






Here is "Old Yeller", a modified P-51D that still holds the record from LA to Daytona Beach for a prop airplane that it set in 1985.






Here is a Howard DGA-15, a custom 1940 airplane so named that when the manufacturer got it registered he called it a Howard after himself and said it was a Darn Good Airplane (DGA) that was built to carry 15 cases of rum in its cargo area so it became a Howard DGA-15.






We had never seen Hitler postage stamps which were on display in the upstairs portion of the museum.






They also had memorabilia from all Wars and we had never seen Civil War rations as displayed here.






Finally, we had never seen a picture of a sonic boom that they also had. This photo won first prize in the Science and Technology Division of the Photo 2000 contest. We remember hearing sonic booms a lot when growing up but not so much anymore.






We are so lucky to see this great country of ours at a slow enough pace that we have time for small town treasures like this that we probably would not have been able to see. It is also great to be able to have some time between museums so that you can fully absorb all of the information. When we have tried to go to museums back to back to back we find ourselves glossing over some of the information.


Photos from this adventure have been added to Flickr.com in the Idaho Falls set.


Till next time,


Bob and Jo

4 comments:

  1. We love being the only ones on a tour. How lucky you two were.
    I didn't even know there was a Hitler postage stamps. He looks mean even on he stamp.
    We are Blessed to be able to see God's beautiful creation for us. Enjoy your day!

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  2. Have you been to the museum At Falcon Field in Mesa? They have some really neat planes there also.

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  3. It was called Pop's BBQ at exit 22 on I65 in Cornersville, TN.

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