One night while visiting my folks, we picked up dinner at the Pizza Inn in Jesup, GA. This mural was painted on the side of the building with the words: “Jesup: The Town that Trains Built.”
Blog
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A Visit to the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base, April 2024
A few weeks, I had an opportunity to spend an afternoon at the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia before taking country roads south to visit my folks.
The Museum of Aviation is HUGE! There are four buildings (some with multiple floors) full of planes, drones, helicopters, support vehicles, equipment, and exhibits. There is a VR experience and other interactive exhibits. The four buildings are surrounded by additional aircraft that you can walk around (I walked 1.6 miles while I was there). Admission is free (but donations are accepted).
The museum is staffed by experienced volunteers/retired servicemen who are friendly and glad to talk and answer questions. They are also doing restoration work in the exhibit areas.
I was chuffed by the whole experience!
If you are an aircraft enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to visit here.
Below, I’m posting some of the hundreds of photos that I took there.
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle on Pedestal Outside
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle Wheels Down and Service Compartments Open In Main Building
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle Cockpit
Pratt & Whitney F-15 Engine
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (Thunderbirds)
Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk
Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Its Weapons and Equipment
Rockwell B-1 Lancer
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
Lockheed U-2
Republic F-105 Thunderchief
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and Convair F-106 Delta Dart
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
McDonnell RF-101
North American F-100 Super Sabre
Republic F-84 Thunderjet
North American F-86 Sabre
Sikorsky MH-53M Pave Low IV
Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
North American P-51 Mustang
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Curtiss JN Jenny with Snoopy (Maybe his Sopwith Camel was being serviced!)
Space Lab Spacesuit
Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD)
Eugene Jacques Bullard, First African-American Fighter Pilot Statue
Walking Around Back
Is That a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Ruddervator Behind the Museum???
Jose the Duck’s Uniform, Vernon Delaney’s B-17 crew of the 817th Bomb Squadron
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Vixen RV, an Aerodynamic, Futuristic Mobile Home
Y and I saw this futuristic Vixen RV on a recent walk through our Brooklyn neighborhood. Designed by Bill Collins, a distinguished car designer and former Delorean engineer who passed away in 2023, the Vixen has a rear-mounted engine with its radiator hidden behind the side air scoops in the back. I’ve never been inside of one, but I’m guessing it is a quieter ride than RVs with front mounted engines and has better gas mileage thanks to its aerodynamic shape and covering (on the top and bottom). This Vixen’s owner also has a cool license plate, which was also pictured in Road and Track–can you guess it’s meaning before clicking through?
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Thinking About My Friend Chris Lee: Macintosh Aficionado, Music Guru, and Eidetic Memory Man for Movie Dialog
Recently, I was telling my City Tech colleague Kate Falvey about a habit of thought that I have when I encounter things that I would ordinarily want to share with a specific person who I think would be interested in that thing even though that person might have passed away. That kind of thought happens more often with my friend Chris Lee, who passed away in 2016. Our mutual interest in computers, pop culture, and video games was the currency of our friendship over many years that began when he saw me pull out my Apple Powerbook 145B in Mr. Norris’ Graphic Design class at Brunswick High School. Later, after we had a falling out around 2000, he mended the bridge and we became good friends again.
When we were younger, our great ambition was to open a computer repair shop and publicize it with a video of us marching through flames as Rammstein’s “Du Hast” blasts in the background. He pushed the limits of good sense by loading what I believe to be a record number of Control Panels and Extensions that would dance along the bottom of his Mac’s boot screen–at least three full lines of icons at 1024 x 768. He created archives of sound that surpassed mortal lifespans capable of listening to it all. He mastered anything released for the Nintendo GameCube. He had a phenomenal memory for movie dialog–a specialized eidetic memory that would have been a superpower at trivia night.
The last thing that we talked about was how much had gone on in our lives so far. I texted him, “Too bad we don’t have a time traveling DeLorean. We could stop by and blow our younger selves’ minds 😎.” His reply and last text to me was, “I wish I had a DeLorean.”
Not long after that, I got a call from our friend Kenny. Chris had died. He was back in Brunswick where our friendship had started. I couldn’t really write about it then, and even now, it’s difficult. I’m not able to say all that I feel and how I wish that I could share just a few things with Chris again.
When I visit my parents, I try to visit Chris’s grave in Smyrna Cemetery, which is between Nahunta and Hortense. His grave marker highlights some of his life’s loves, including Apple Computer. Of course, I wish that Chris could hear when I talk, but I know that what I say is only heard by regret.
