Ze plane! Ze plane!

I love airplanes. Not so much the 15 hour Transpacific flights but the machines themselves. During my DC/NYC trip last weekend, I visited the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum twice. Since I got to DC so early on Friday, I walked around The Mall and went to the Air & Space Museum by myself; I also went again the next day with James and Elim. They had lots of stuff on display but nothing really huge since the building was not that big. Actually, I didn't know about Udvar-Hazy Center where they keep the large planes on display, including a SR-71 Blackbird. It's right next to Dulles Airport so I could have gone there right after I arrived in DC/IAD.

I think I should have studied Aeronautical or Mechanical Engineering instead of Electrical Engineering. I probably still would be working as an engineer now instead of finance. Anyway, here are some photos, in no particuar order:


WW2 German V-2 Missile


Apollo Lunar Module


F-1 Engine (Saturn 5 Rocket)


Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane


Apollo and Soyuz


WW2 German V-1 Cruise Missile


North American X-15


Pioneer 10 Space Probe


Lockheed F-104A Starfighter


Supermarine Spitfire (with Rolls Royce Merlin V12 engine in front)


Predator UAV with 2 Hellfire missiles
(it was much bigger than I imagined)


Douglas DC-3


Sputnik 1


Bell X-1 (first plane to break the sound barrier)


Charles Lindberg's Spirit of St. Louis