As I mentioned the other day, I finally visited the Intrepid.
The museum is incredible- I couldn't get over all of the amazing things there were to see!
When I first arrived at the boat, I entered into Hangar 1.
Inside the hangar were all sorts of interesting artifacts and learning experiences.
For example, this is the "Meatball", an optical landing system. The lights and mirror helped pilots land on the boat's deck in the proper way.
They also had one of the boat's propellers on display- it was huge! This was just one of the four propellers that powered the Intrepid during the war- and it ways more than 10 cars combined!
A little further down the way was a Grumman Eastern Aircraft TBM-3E Avenger.
These planes were built on Long Island (NY) during WWII by women. This is also the same type of aircraft that George W. Bush had to escape from when he was a pilot!
As I wandered around this floor of the museum, I was in awe of the incredible machinery on display!
This particular 'copter is the Piasecki HUP / UH-25 Retriever... and it was the first helicopter to ever have an autopilot!
There was so much to see and do at the museum. One of my favorite things in this area of the museum was the "Kamikaze Experience." About halfway down the ship, three video screens descended from the ceiling to play a video about an actual Kamikaze attack on the ship.
As the plane on the video hit the Intrepid, the floor started to "smoke" and the narrator explained that the plane hit the exact spot where we were all standing... and had we been there that day we would all have been killed- it was really powerful!
In a different area of the ship there was a Martin-Baker Mark Ejection Seat. This patented ejection seat includes a parachute and rocket booster. If you can believe it, the force of the ejection on the pilot is 12-20 times the force of gravity- yikes! Interesting fact: John McCain sustained his injuries when ejecting from this type of seat.
The Intrepid was a very busy ship between the 40's and 80's! Believe it or not, it even picked up the Gemini-3 capsule after it re-entered the earth's atmosphere.
There's even a replica of the capsule hanging from the crane that retrieved the astronauts from the ocean years ago.
As you can tell, there was so much to do and see at the museum. At one end of the hangar was the children's area...
Complete with a replica of the ship...
Made out of...
Legos!!! The model was created by a couple in England and is an exact 1:40 scale replica.
The children's area also had displays to engage the 5 senses. Kids were encouraged to touch, listen, feel, etc... For example, kids could climb into different areas of the helicopter, and depending on where they were sitting, a recorded voice told them what their job would have been, etc.
And while there wasn't much on the ship I was familiar with ahead of time (I'm pretty clueless when it comes to aircrafts,etc.), there was one display that I knew all about!
Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!
