[Photography by Ray Stanyard ]

Soaring to New Heights - U.S. Naval Aviation History Showcased in Pensacola

From the dawn of flight to the exploration of space, the National Museum of Naval Aviation, just 10 miles south of Interstate 10 in Pensacola, is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting the heritage and cutting-edge achievements of Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Aviation. The museum is home to the finest collection of Naval aircraft from the past 80 years, showcasing artifacts, aviation art and photography, models, memorabilia and technology displays.

One of the most popular attractions in Florida, and the state's most visited museum, the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola offers a full day's experience for visitors of all ages. With more than 150 beautifully restored aircraft and a wealth of artifacts and memorabilia, the 291,000 square foot museum is one of the largest museums of its type in the world. Exhibits trace the history of U.S. naval aviation from its first aircraft, purchased in 1911, to the very latest F/A-18 Hornet fighter-attack aircraft in current use by both the Navy and Marine Corps, and the aircraft used by the Navy's world famous Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron.

In December 1962, the Secretary of the Navy announced the official establishment of the Naval Aviation Museum. Its charge, then and now, is, "to select, collect, preserve, and display appropriate memorabilia representative of the development, growth, and historic heritage of Naval Aviation." In 1914, the historic Pensacola Navy Yard, which dates back to 1826, was designated as the first Naval Air facility in the United States. Today, naval aviation still begins aboard the wide expanses, runways and hangars of Naval Air Station, Pensacola. As a federally sanctioned museum, it is owned, operated, and maintained by the U.S. Navy and operates as a field activity under the command of the Chief of Naval Air Training. All personnel attached to the museum are civil service employees. Through the years, more than $33 million has been raised for museum development through the dedication of the over 13,000 members of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

Visitors can step back in time with a tour of Home Front, a typical American main street of 1943, then tour the spaces of a World War II aircraft carrier or see how Marines lived on an island in the Southwest Pacific. Each day, free bus tours of the museum's flight line provide visitors access to the larger aircraft in the collection and the museum's restoration facility, where aircraft are refurbished and kept "museum quality." The museum's flight line also contains grandstands where, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from the last week in March to early November, visitors have an ideal view of practice sessions by the Blue Angels. The practice sessions are very popular, attracting thousands during the season.

The IMAX Theater offers The Magic of Flight, the Museum's flagship film, tracing the history of flight and featuring a breathtaking "in the cockpit" view of a Blue Angels air show on a screen that is almost seven stories tall and 83 feet wide. A second film, which changes periodically, fills the bill of seven daily film showings.

Four free, guided tours of the museum are conducted daily. Visitors can enjoy lunch with a touch of history at the Museum's Cubi Bar Café. The restaurant's décor consists of more than 1,000 squadron, ship and unit plaques, collected for more than 40 years by the original officers' club in the Philippines. A model of American efficiency and Philippine hospitality, the club received the plaques as tokens of thanks for its service. As years passed, Philippine artisans were hired to create even more imaginative renderings of unit emblems, and the exquisite wood carvings developed into a fine art form. When the US Navy left Cubi Point and the Philippines in 1992, the artifacts were collected and shipped to the Museum as items of historic value. The restaurant recreates the famous bar. For many who served in the Pacific, a visit to the Cubi Bar Café is a trip down memory lane.