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Intrepid Museum Video

Marvelous Air Museums is part of the John D Reinhart content family. Writer, illustrator, videographer, and accidental filmmaker — find the whole story at JohnDReinhart.com.

We braved the wind and the waves to visit the Intrepid Museum, an aviation and space museum housed within the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a massive World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War veteran.

Commissioned in 1943, Intrepid was the fifth of the 24 Essex class carriers built during World War Two. Her squadrons fought in several critical campaigns, including the Mariannas, Truk, and Leyte Gulf. Her Curtiss SB2C Helldivers scored a hit on the mighty Yamato, the biggest battleship in the world, and were instrumental in sinking the Musashi, Yamato’s deadly sister ship.

As remarkable as that is, the Fighting I also survived not one, not two, but four kamikaze attacks. This US Navy photograph depicts the frightening reality of a kamikaze strike, and the heroism and bravery of the sailors fighting to overcome the damage.

Intrepid is all about heroism and bravery. Her long hanger deck features models and movies and memorabilia from her extensive and memorable career.

The hanger deck is where you encounter the first piece of Intrepid’s aviation history, in the form of this beautifully maintained and restored Chance Vought FG1D Corsair, an F4-U built under license by Goodyear. She bears the markings of ensign Alfred Lerch, an Intrepid pilot who earned the Navy Cross for shooting down seven Imperial Japanese airplanes in one day, making him an instant ace.

Just astern of the Corsair you’ll find the huge Grumman TBM-3 Avenger flown by president George H.W. Bush during World War II. Although the wings are folded for on-deck storage, there’s no mistaking that huge seventeen-hundred horsepower Wright 14-cylinder radial engine. With a wingspan of 54 feet, these guys were the big heroes at the battle of Leyte Gulf.

Astern of the giant Avenger you’ll find a North American FJ-2 – a variant of the Korean-war era F-86 Saber Jet specialized for carrier duty. Land or sea, there’s no escaping the beautiful design of these potent jet fighters.

And neither can you forget the McDonnell/Douglas A-4B Skyhawk, the workhorse of the Vietnam War. This early example flew from the Intrepid between 1966 and 1969.

As the shuttle Enterprise exhibit was closed during our excursion, we made our way up to the gusty flight deck. Up here is where you’ll find the bulk of the Intrepid Museum’s excellent aircraft collection.

There’s a beautifully restored NASA Northrup T-38 Talon trainer parked right next door to a Polish-built MIG-17. There’s a nice collection of helicopters, starting with a rare Sikorsky HH-52 Sea Guard and ending with an Army Bell UH-1 Iroquois. That’s a Bell AH-1J twin-engined Sea Cobra wedged in the middle .

The collection of jets is truly impressive and includes the first production model of the Lockheed A-12, the attack version of the fabled SR-71 Blackbird.

There’s a lot to see aboard Intrepid, from the spaceflight display to a ride-in A-6 cockpit mockup.

Once you’ve seen all that, you’ll find two more surprises waiting right outside.

The first is the USS Growler, a World-War-II era diesel-electric submarine armed with Regulus cruise missiles. A nuclear deterrent vessel, the missiles were stored in those enormous tubes on the after deck.

The other big surprise is the BOAC Concorde sitting on the dock. Of the 20 built, this Concorde logged the most flight time. Compared to a 747, this lithe little ship is positively tiny!

I keep saying there’s a lot to see at the Intrepid Museum, but that’s a huge understatement. If you’re in the New York area, you owe it to yourself to check out this awesome and awe-inspiring seagoing museum.

You can watch the video of our adventure here.

Marvelous Air Museums is part of the John D Reinhart content family. Writer, illustrator, videographer, and accidental filmmaker — find the whole story at JohnDReinhart.com.

A Hot Day in the Desert

On the hot afternoon of August 16, 1956, a couple of utility workers sat in their truck in Placerita Canyon, about an hour north of Los Angeles, California, and finished their lunches. It was a hot afternoon, and it was stuffy in the truck, so they decided to go sit in the shade of one of big oak trees there in the canyon.

No soon had they sat down, than their utility truck exploded in a ball of flame. Thank goodness neither man was hurt. They stared at the truck’s smoldering remains, completely baffled by what had blown it up.

Little did they know that, 30,000 feet above them, raged one of the strangest air battles fought in history, and the only one fought over American soil. The Battle of Palmdale.

Earlier in the day, the Navy had launched an old Grumman F6F5 Hellcat, a propellor-driven remnant from WWII, from Naval Air Station Point Mugu. You can find a beautifully restored Hellcat at the Commemorative Air Force, SoCal Wing museum in Camarillo. The one launched by the Navy was painted bright orange to signify that she was a radio-controlled drone, with no pilot. Her mission was to get blown out of the sky as a target for the naval air station’s missile-practice.

But the old bird seemed to have a mind of her own. Not long after she crossed the coastline and headed out over the Pacific, her radio stopped communicating. With no instructions, she started a gentle left turn and headed southeast towards Los Angeles.

The Navy didn’t have any fighter resources available at Point Mugu at the moment, so they called for help to the Oxnard Air Force Base, just five miles up the road.

The Air Force, always eager to show up the Navy, dispatched two Northrop F-89D Scorpion jets to take out the errant Hellcat.

The Scorpions were state-of-the-art, front-line defenders at the time, armed with a brand-new weapon system – each brandished 104 Mighty Mouse 2.75 inch diameter missiles arrayed in 52-missile drums on the wingtips. Although the missiles were unguided, the jets featured an advanced, radar-driven targeting system.

The old Hellcat buzzed northeast of Los Angeles, out towards the desert communities of Castaic and Palmdale. It was over the rugged San Gabriel mountains that the battle began.

Because the Hellcat was now making a gentle right turn, the fighter pilots decided to take it out from the side rather than follow it around the circle – it was an easier shot for the radars. They let go a barrage of missiles. Or, attempted to. Neither of their radar-guided systems functioned correctly, and none of the combined 208 missiles was fired.

Frustrated, the pilots decided to take on the Hellcat old-school, using gunsights. But the gunsights had been removed from the F-89s because the radar system made them superfluous, so they couldn’t manually aim the missiles, either.

Finally, they did what any fighter pilot would do: point the jet at the Hellcat and let the missiles fly.

One, possibly two missiles bumped under the Hellcat’s fuselage, but didn’t explode. The other 202 missiles went wide and fell like explosive hailstones on the mountains below.

The resulting brushfires burned over 150 acres and took two days to put out. One missile blew shrapnel into a woman’s kitchen cupboard. One knocked out the right front tire of a car traveling on Highway 138. And one missile scored a direct hit on that utility truck in Placerita Canyon.

With no guns, no missiles, and no hits, the F-89s were forced to return to Oxnard, low on fuel.

The Hellcat, finally running out of gas, gently descended over Palmdale, clipped three power lines, and exploded on the desert floor just beyond Palmdale.

The two utility guys had to thumb a ride back to their shop, absolutely baffled by the destruction of their truck. You can just imagine how they explained it to their boss.

You can learn more about the Battle of Palmdale by visiting the Commemorative Air Force SoCal Wing in Camarillo.

Marvelous Air Museums is part of the John D Reinhart content family. Writer, illustrator, videographer, and accidental filmmaker — find the whole story at JohnDReinhart.com.