The USS Midway - Part 1

While I was in San Diego, I decided to visit the USS Midway which is an aircraft carrier that has been converted to a museum ship. All my life I have been an aviation fanatic and I really like Naval Aviation, so this was like a dream realized - a chance to set foot on an aircraft carrier.

The welcome mat. The Midway was a carrier that was built at the end of the war and was commissioned a couple of weeks after the surrender was signed in 1945. As a result, she never saw action in the war she was meant to serve in. However, she did see action in Vietnam and Desert Storm. She was finally decommissioned in 1992. In 2004, she began her life as a museum ship.

This is the hanger deck and this particular plane is an AT-6 Texan.

The enlisted berthing spots. Pretty cramped.

This is a device they used to use to measure a ship's speed. They would drop the wooden chip in the water and count how many knots would pass in 30 seconds, hence the origin of the term "knots".

The junior officer's berthing area. Not quite as nice as the areas for the senior officers but better than the enlised men's.

A flight helmet.

One of the ready rooms for the squadrons.

A Dauntless dive bomber, the aircraft that saved the day at Midway.

Another shot of the Dauntless.

An Avenger torpedo bomber. President Bush flew a plane that was similar to this one.

An A-3 Skywarrior.

An F/A-18 Hornet. So named because it was designed to be both a Fighter and attack aircraft. It does both roles fairly well.

An A-4 Skyhawk. Senator McCain flew an aircraft similar to this one.

One of the tails of the F-14 Tomcat. This aircraft never flew off the Midway (it was too heavy). This particular one is from a squadron that served on the USS Enterprise. I love the colorful insignia the Navy uses on its aircraft.