One of the burdens and joys of being a grandpa is you become , with grandma, the oracle of family history. Grandma will remember all the names and relationships, but it can be grandpa’s duty to put the world in context to the family.
We were at the excellent Museum of Flight in Seattle with my daughter and family. The two oldest girls loved the interactive parts, where you could launch a rocket or crash the lunar lander. When it came to just looking at history it was harder for them to get excited.
I did the best I could and found a link. The Redheaded Irish Wisecracker’s dad worked for Republic Aviation during WW2, and was refused military service because of his skills in supervising the production lines for fighter aircraft. He took his forced deferment as it was and threw himself into getting the planes out fast and right. He probably touched every aircraft produced at the Long Island plant.
As we passed the P-47, I told the girls that their great grandfather made these along with other folks during the war. Suddenly, they looked on with interest, a million questions came out and they had to see every rivet and plate.
My eldest granddaughter, a newly graduated first grader, went up to several people standing there and said “My family made that plane. We did that.”
Mission accomplished.
Your next stop is:
National Air and Space Museum | Smithsonian Institution
https://www.si.edu/museums/air-and-space-museum
Pretty amazing to see the Wright Brothers, WWII aircraft, the Voyagers, and Human Spaceflight exhibits.
I spent an awful lot of time in the National Portrait Gallery, but this museum was without a doubt, the most heavily trafficked in D.C.
It is a great museum, I used to live in Philadelphia and I was there on opening weekend. One of the best expenditures of our money in DC.
Have they ever finished the Enola Gay restoration?
They have!
Best aviation museum ever is in Pensacola FL.
(Bias acknowledged)
http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org
Neil Armstrong trained in Pensacola.
It is fun to watch the difference between a father/mother and a grandfather/grandmother. Japan used to always have the parents living with the oldest sons family. They in many ways raised the grandchildren if the parents worked.
This is the first I have heard of Republic Aviation. I wonder what happen to them.
bought by Fairchild-Hiller and then the pieces absorbed as the industry consolidated. Lots of companies were repped at the ww2 display, Curtis, Chance Voight, bell, as well as Lockheed, Grumman, Northrup and Boeing
I like the photo, TKC. It captures the motion of who they are. Cute kids.
still learning the quirks of the new phone camera