Navy National Aviation Museum

Day 165
Molino FL- Pensacola FL

My morning starts with me looking at the map. My calculations tell me either we check out Pensacola today or get a glimpse of it tomorrow on the way through to Topsail State Park. Let's see.. what's free down here. Beach, more beach, downtown stores,and the navy air museum. Free museum you say? Time to pack up and leave our woodsy dwelling for the day. 

Let me give you a little background in flight to explain my odd fascination with old stuff. The Wright brothers completed their first flight in December of 1903. News of the flight received very little attention. They were basically considered as some freak experiment that was able to stay off the ground for 59 seconds. Their airplane flew into a 27 mph headwind and racked up a ground speed of 7 mph, covering 852 feet.
Now we can fast forward to August of 1908. The Wright brothers traveled around Europe with the perfected flying machine showing curious onlookers that they could sustain flight for up to 2 kilometers at a time. Headlines around the world now talked about how modern man had entered a new era. The ability to fly like birds has come.

Knowing the timeline now makes this piece of engineering above even more impressive. This Curtis NC was built for the Navy in 1918. Only 10 years have passed since the acceptance of flight. Spreading it's wings to a full 126 feet wide, this water landing vehicle had the capability of flying with 51 passengers. However that is not what makes this plane special. This plane, this specific plane, was the first to make a transatlantic crossing. Only ten years of time, and we had already flown across the pond. Absolutely astounding.

The National Navy Aviation Museum is a fantastic collection of history. Two Hangars filled with war time relics show just how far we have come in 115 years. An impressive collection of historic war birds litters the showroom floor. Many of them are un-restored pieces of history that most people only get to read about. This place goes down as an absolute must see in my book.

Cruising through Pensacola is not that exciting. It looks just like any other city. The suburbs are normal and we drive past a few trailer parks. Downtown has a few blocks of quaint shops lining the streets. It's not a town I would call a destination vacation. Perhaps Pensacola Beach will be better.

Or maybe not. This is the Quietwater boardwalk on a Saturday afternoon. This is the main attraction for Pensacola beach in terms of the "must see" places. Construction is ongoing after taking a beating from Hurricane Michael. Speaking of hurricanes, we hear a lot from random people about how they are still picking up. The tone is almost set that visitors should feel bad for the tragic loss that they went through. I'm not sure how to say this gingerly, but I don't feel bad for anyone that lives here. Over the past century Pensacola has been hit by a hurricane every 2.28 years. This is hurricane country. Either deal with it or move out. I'm not interested in your sob story of survival when there has been 81 tropical storms since the year 2000.
​The rest of the beach line looks a lot like you would expect. Hotels, restaurants, and bars are spread out across the land. They don't seem to be very close together which would make walking around difficult. Traffic is a mess and every place you drive to looks like a tourist a trap.

​Let's move on to some piece of history and leave this ghost town behind.

At the far west end of Pensacola beach lies the remaining ruins of Fort Pickens. A large fort built in 1834 stands at the edge of the island to protect america from the British. This sprawling brick complex was completed using mostly slave labor, a topic that does not get much attention. Within the park exhibits are focused on construction technique and engineering. The names mentioned throughout the park are of the generals who commanded the post and the engineers who built it. You will find very little about the thousands of men who were treated as property by their owners. These men are the true heroes who built this amazing structure. Perhaps their is no information about them because none was kept. A stark reality of our past that is often forgotten.