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Re: Best and Worst museum 'experience'

Posted by Steve T on Sat Dec 06, 2003 10:42:30 AM

In reply top Best and Worst museum 'experience' posted by JDK on Sat Dec 06, 2003 08:57:40 AM

Hi all--

: As we wind into winter (in the North - sobs)

Too true, too true...

This is an interesting (albeit perhaps somewhat perilous!) course of discussion; thanx for the post. Happily my "bests" nicely outweigh my "worsts"...

Worst first: (and this was nobody's fault!). An attempted visit to the Polar museum in 1999. Unknown to me at the time the museum was in the process of shutting down; they were only open at that time about three days a week and we simply came into town on the wrong day. Knew all that juicy stuff was sitting inside the big beige hangar...not a hope of seeing any of it! Shucks. Of course the museum shut completely not much later.

Some "bests"...Mosquito Museum, London Colney, April 1989; just after flying into Gatwick we (Dad and I) discovered that THAT was the only day of our trip we would be able to catch this collection open (I forget the reason for that). Hurriedly took a taxi there after "checking into" our B&B. Met one of the volunteer enthusiasts there (sadly I forget his name); we were treated royally, and when the museum chap realized we'd arrived that morning from Canada...he popped the undernose hatch on Mosquito W4050 and suggested I take a seat! Subsequently he also opened up TA634 which was three quarters of the way complete. Just a few hours out from Canada and seated at the controls of two Mossies. Most cool.

Breckenridge TX, September 1992. Nosing about Ezell Aviation (three Furies, two 51s and an F4U-5 there at the time) we bumped into Howard Pardue. "There's some more stuff in that hangar over there", quoth Howard, "go on in"...So, completely unattended, did we walk through an unlocked (!) door to view Mr P's Beech 17 and F4U-4; elsewhere were the XF8F and T-6 and Bill Arnot's Mitchell doing engine runs; and (aaaah!) both Howard and Nelson Ezell were airtesting Howard's Fury, treating us to a kind of private air display. And all this at the end of a busy afternoon when they could just as easily have shoo'd us off the field, which is, after all, private. A real highlight of what had been a fine trip.

Two from Alberta, May 95. It's silly, really, to expect to visit three museums in one day. After a look round at the Calgary Aero-Space Museum, we headed, very short of time, for the Naval Museum of Alberta...and got there about five minutes shy of what should have been closing time. The lady at the desk didn't bat an eye, letting us waltz on in anyway and being very pleasant indeed about the last-minute-and-then-some visit of a couple Ontarians. (I really should try to keep track of these people's names though!) Next we headed southward, to Nanton. We hadn't a hope of catching the NLS museum open by then. But I spied some aircraft parts up a hill from Hwy#2 on the edge of town and we stopped in. This was Mr Robert Evans' farm (egad! I remember a name this time!); he was NLS' curator and had a spectacular assemblage of warbird "stuff" stored for the museum. Though it was by now early evening he let us amble all over the place taking pix of things like the mortal remains of Lanc FM118 and the hulks of over twenty early mark Ansons. And then...he told us he was interviewing tour guides over at the museum that evening, and we could stop by for a look around the museum while he was doing that (even though it ought to have been closed hours earlier). We, needless to say, appreciated the gesture hugely.

Thanx again for starting this thread; it's nice to have the opportunity to give credit where it's due!

Cheers

S.

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