[simpits-tech] WPAFB Museum

[Brian Sikkema]

Just got back from a weekend trip to the museum at Wright-Patterson. Man is 
that a sight! Definitely worth the trip, if you ever get the chance.

I still can't believe the access you get to most of the aircraft - walk 
right up to them, around, underneath, touch them (ok, the signs say not to, 
but there's a flown X-15 right in front of me, I'm gonna touch it). Just 
amazing.

I was incredibly dissapointed with the Mercury they had, though. It wasn't 
even flown equipment (and had been thoroughly cannibalized to boot), but 
they still had it encased in plexiglass. To make matters worse, there were 
no internal lights, and tons of lights shining down on it - the worst case 
scenario if you're trying to take pictures. So I got a couple shots of the 
reasonably-well-lit control panel, but all of the ellusive details, 
controls, around the couch, inside the parachute compartment, were a lost 
cause. I couldn't use my flash, and there was no light on them otherwise. A 
real bummer.

Anywho, overall a great time, I'll post a few pics once I get them developed 
and scanned.

Brian