Happy Memorial Day!
Today is more of a relaxed day for us after having two busy days, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Hubby will post about what we did on Saturday soon and what we did on Sunday was this. We made a road trip to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit the Carolinas Aviation Museum. Remember what I said on my World War II Warbirds: Wings of Freedom Tour post? Our plans were indefinite that time, but we made it!
The snapshooter in me stroke again and I didn’t realize that I took more than 200 photos until I downloaded them in the personal computer. There was a lot of good stuff in that museum and of course, I needed to capture all the fun and memorable moments, as well as the historical.
Since there are a lot of photos and a lot of stories to tell, I figured to do a series on this museum post. Let’s begin part 1 with a story about the aircraft that are located just right outside of the museum, shall we?
We arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon at the museum and it was perfect timing because they are going to open the door leading to the outside of the museum close to the runway. Carolinas Aviation Museum is located next to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Since where the aircraft were was close to the runway, there were barricades and we were prohibited from crossing those lines for our own safety.
There were three aircraft outside, one military and two commercial.
One of the most amazing stories I ever read about these bad boys is how during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, 1968, these planes were used to fly in supplies to the beleaguered Marine Corp base at Khe San. They were totally surrounded and under siege by the NVA (North Vietnamese Army), whose goal was to destroy the base just as their predecessors the Viet Minh had done to the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, ending Frances colonial aspirations in Indochina when they withdrew in 1956 leading to the partitioning of Vietnam into North and South, leading to the future American involvement.
And it was during the Khe San siege that the C-130’s delivered 14,356 tons of supplies to the base either by paradrop or by touch-and-go landings, where they would drop in, cruise along the runway pushing off supplies and take off without even stopping, the entire time while under fire. Amazing and courageous.
But this actual plane here was involved in many missions during its service, the most notable being the failed rescue attempt of the American Embassy hostages in Iran in 1980, a valiant but doomed effort, affected not by experience or capability but by the unknown things that pop up during such missions.
Seeing the Delta plane reminded me of our trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Asheville, North Carolina.
DC-7
There’s my little model. 😉
Naval Cruise Missle
See how close we were to the runway? There were actually three commercial airplanes that landed while we were outside. The little one was so delighted.
On part 2, I’ll share about the aircraft and the fun that my boys had inside the museum. I also had fun checking every single aircraft and taking photos of the two. 😉 So, until then!
What a beautiful place I don’t live far. I’m in Mt. Airy and definitely want to go see the Museum now. You made me laugh because I usually am the one snapping too many photo’s. What a fun tour for you all. Thank you for sharing. Definitely adding to my must see list 🙂
This looks like an amazing place to visit, I would love to go to a museum like this! The planes look amazing, I hope you had a great time.
I would love to go to this museum! I love old airplanes. I fly a lot, and I’m always in awe that such huge machines can get off the ground.
That looks like a really neat place to visit! Thanks for all the photos. I’d love to see this place too.
Wow! This would be incredible! Something I would love to do with my kids. Great way to teach some history too!
I bet your son loved that! There is something about being close to huge planes that is just so exciting! Historic planes are always fun to look at and read about the missions they were on.
Oh wow. What an awesome and fun experience! This would definitely be a fun experience for kids too, I know how interesting flight can be.
I think it’s always interesting to see military aircraft. They do look a lot different than typical aircraft.
What a cool place to bring the kids!! My son gets to see a ‘real’ airplane (or at least 3) because we go to Italy ever summer. Sometimes we take smaller airplanes for which we have to board the plane on the tarmac, so he gets to see them up close and personal 😉
I’ve always been interested in aviation so this was a really neat post. It must have been so neat to see these planes in person!
This would be an amazing place to go to with my Dad. He has always loved planes and even has owned a few small planes. I can remember going for plane rides as a little girl.
We only live about two hours from Charlotte, and I have never heard of this! I have been to the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC, but not this one! I will have to find the time to check it out! I bet the hubs would love it too!
My son would be thrilled to attend this museum. He is a huge fan of airplanes and planes. He wants to be a pilot.
We lived near an airfield when I was younger and my dad would take us all the time. Reading this post brought back so many memories! Thank you for sharing.
Hi Lyndee, sounds like your Memorial Weekend was busy and fun – the Carolinas Aviation Museum sounds like a great adventure – we’ve been to the one indoors in the Los Anegeles area and another one nearby that was more like your adventure – we took my son when he as younger!
My son would love this. We’ll be heading to N.C. this summer. Maybe we can check this out.
Whoa, your son standing under the DC-7 shows how absolutely massive these things are! I’ve flown on many small, private planes, but have never been up close to larger air crafts like this! Very cool!
I can’t wait to travel to a place like this with my son. He is so into planes and historical areas like this!