For those of you who have an interest in aviation and live in the Southern California area or plan on visiting it in the future, a visit to the San Diego AeroSpace Museum at Balboa Park, in San Diego, would be well worth your time and effort. Housing over fifty different aircraft, many in flying condition, the museum contains a General Aviation section, a Military Aviation section, a Spacecraft section, the International Aerospace Hall of Fame, and the Prudden Historical Archives and Aviation Library. Adjacent to and part of the museum is the workshop in which the they are maintained and repaired and aircraft are restored and rebuilt. Currently, a Curtiss JND-4 trainer is being rebuilt there, and a Link blind-eying trainer is being restored. The General Aviation section has a flying reproduction of the first seaplane, the Curtiss A-1, a flying duplicate of Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis II" and reproductions of the gliders of aviation's eady pioneers -- Montgomery, Chanute and Bowlus. In the Military Aviation section are representative aircraft dating from World War I to the present. One of the newest additions to the museum is a flying reproduction of a World War I Sopwith Triplane, finished in the color scheme Of No. 10 Naval Squadron, and bearing the markings of Flight Commander Raymond Collishaw's aircraft, "Black Maria." In addition to the many aircraft, there are aircraft instruments, aircraft radios, and a replica of the combat intelligence center of an ESSEX class attack carrier during Wodd War II. Also on display is an excellent collection of military and civil aviation badges, one of the finest collections on public display in the southwest. It is a "working" museum and the displays change from time to time as aircraft are removed from the premises for an occasional flight, and new exhibits are being continually added. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Smithsonian Institution provide special exhibits, and other exhibits, ranging from aircraft compasses to actual aircraft on loan from private collectors. The museum is lucky in that San Diego is a center of the aviation industry, and was the locale of many of the pioneering efforts of aviation, with many of the participants of those efforts still living in the area. Also, there are many former military flyers living in the area who have made contributions of documents, exhibits, and knowledge, and some have donated their time and skills to help restore and maintain the aircraft on display. Hosting over 60,000 visitors a month, the museum is open seven days a week, including holidays, from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with no admission charge. The people who run the museum do so as a labor of love of aviation, and are most helpful to those who are looking for information on the subject. They don't pretend to know everything about aviation, but chances are, they know someone who does. So, if by chance you should ever be in San Diego, and have always wondered what a Sopwith Triplane, an A6M5 Zero, or an F9F Panther looked like, close up, pay the museum a visit; if one picture is worth a thousand words, the actual equipment is worth a million. Back to Conflict Number 7 Table of Contents Back to Conflict List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1974 by Dana Lombardy This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com