Our crew recently lowered the Curtiss A-1 from its lofty position in the rotunda. Once on the floor, the crew did a little bit of cleaning and then removed the engine. They moved the engine down to the engine shop in our basement. The plan is to refurbish and oil the engine and place it back in the A-1 for its flight in September of 2011.

You heard me right, the Curtiss A-1, made of mostly wood and cloth, is a flyable replica and will do so again in just over a year to celebrate the centennial of Naval aviation. Jim Dalby, a former Museum President, flew the A-1 for the first time in February of 1984. After the flight concluded, the A-1 was installed in the Museum and displayed for the past 26 years. It will be exciting to see this old girl stretch her wings next year.

You can learn more about the Curtiss A-1 over on Wikipedia. In the meantime, please enjoy some up-close photos of this odd looking seaplane:

A while ago, the folks over at the Smithsonian asked for the return of the Ryan X-13. Wait, what is the Ryan X-13? Well I am glad you asked.

Back in the late 1940′s, Ryan tested the theory of Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL). In 1953, the Air Force awarded Ryan with a contract to build a VTOL Jet. The result was the Ryan X-13 built here in San Diego. On 11 April 1957, the X-13 made a full test flight, up north at Edwards Air Force Base, by taking off vertically, leveling the nose, flying for a several minutes, and then slowly descending back to the ground. Ryan only built two X-13 before the Air Force cancelled the project because the prototypes could not meet all of the needed operational requirements.

Last week our crew prepared the one-of-two Vertijet for transport, but luckily, the X-13 only moved a few miles east to the Museum’s Gillespie Field Annex out in El Cajon. It will remain there until the Smithsonian is ready to transport it which means you have a chance to see it one more (or even more) time(s). The Gillespie Field Annex is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and the best part is the price, free! Make sure you check the X-13 out before it has truly left San Diego.

In place of the Ryan X-13, the Museum will be installing four brand new simulators.

Below are some photo’s of the move preparation process. I took a lot of pictures but our camera decided to delete most them. Sorry.

Every year (for the past 14 years), the Museum has expressed its appreciation of the volunteers by throwing them a party aptly titled, Volunteer Appreciation Night. This years theme celebrated 1935, the year the Ford Building opened to the public and the year some of our volunteers were born!

Throughout the evening, the volunteers enjoyed dinner, drinks, dessert, and good company. We also presented four 25 years-of-volunteering jackets this year, and recognized a few volunteers who had passed the 30 year mark! To end the evening, raffle prizes were given out to the lucky winners, including two round trip tickets on Southwest Airlines.

We love our volunteers, and we definitely could not run this Museum without them. Our docents help visitors interpret the exhibits, collect tickets, and make sure everything runs smoothly on the gallery floors. Upstairs in our Library and Archives, volunteers maintain, identify, and catalog the Museum’s large (one of the largest in the U.S.) collection. Down in the Museum’s basement and out at Gillespie Field, the volunteers build, maintain, and restore our priceless aircraft collection. Without them, we would be an empty building.

One of the best lines of the night came from the Museum’s Chairman of the Board, Mark Larson, on the volunteer’s median age. The median age of our volunteers is over 80 years of age. The average life expectancy in California is 77.9 years. This means that SDASM volunteers live longer! It pays (in years) to volunteer here (cough, cough, shameless plug).

Below are just a few pictures from the evening. If you would like to see more, check out the Museum’s Flickr Photostream.

In 1989, a young British lad crossed the Atlantic in order to spend his summer at a camp in the United States. This was no ordinary summer camp, this was Space Camp! During Space Camp, he experienced the rigors of astronaut training and found true love.

Twenty-one years later, that young lad has grown up, married his Space Camp true love, became a published author on space (twice), and is currently the Director of Education at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. For his work in the field of space history exploration, Francis French will be inducted into the Space Camp Hall of Fame Class of 2010.

We are proud of him and the work he has done (because as you can tell, space is half of our name).

If you live in Huntsville, Alabama or just want more information on the Space Camp Hall of Fame 2010, click here.

Jim Newman at SDASM - Courtesy of David Brooks/Union-Tribune

Astronaut Jim Newman (a former San Diego native whom I posted about previously here, here, and here), recently gave an interview with the San Diego Union Tribune. While he answered some general questions about his space travels and the future of the U.S. space program, one question and answer in particular stood out because of its relevance to our special exhibition, The Science of… Aliens, and the scientific search for extraterrestrial life:

QUESTION: Do you think beings similar to us exist in space?
ANSWER: From the fantastic photos of our universe the Hubble Space Telescope and others have given us, we know that our galaxy is fairly typical, having about a hundred billion stars in it. And there are about a trillion galaxies in all. And we are currently in the process of identifying Earthlike planets in our local galactic neighborhood. So having learned in recent centuries that the Earth is not flat, that it orbits the sun, and that, at 5 billion years old, the Earth has had time for evolution to produce humans, I would be astonished if there were no other planets with life on them and probably with intelligent life on them as well.

To read the rest of Jim Newman’s interview, click here.

This was sitting in my draft folder for awhile and I thought I would finally post it.

A few months ago (5 February to be exact), Tafelmusik performed a free educational concert, entitled The Galileo Project, on the solar system for local schools. We would like to say thanks to the La Jolla Music Society for making the concert possible.

This is just a short clip of their entertaining performance:

Here are just a few photos from today’s opening of the Museum’s new Kids Aviation Action Hanger (free with admission and from the looks of it, kid and family approved):

A benefit of working at a Museum, is the opportunity to learn multiple skills. The Museum’s Director of Library & Archives, Katrina Pescador, decided to take advantage of this benefit by learning a skill used in the restoration area of the Museum, welding.

Ready for Some Welding

One of the Museum’s exhibit construction workers, Don (also master welder) handed Katrina a mig welder and showed her the ropes. From talking to her, she enjoyed stepping away from the books for a while and getting her hands dirty (yes, she wore gloves, but you get the idea).

Its Getting Hot in Here!

While she is not 100% sure on what she will do with her new skill, she is thinking of either modern art sculptures or building, by herself, a B-29 Superfortress.

Just wanted to update you, the reader, on a few upcoming things here at the Museum:

Family Day – Paper Rockets – 10 July
Join me, your resident blogger, at the Museum and build pneumatically powered rockets made from paper. For more information, click here.

Aerosummer Camps – 12 July
Aerosummer 2010 kicks off on Monday, 12 July, with First Flight, for grades 1-2. If you are looking for a one day camp for both you and your child, make sure to check out Flights of Fancy on Saturday, 31 July. The rest of our Aerosummer camps will run until the end of August and there are still spots available. For more information and to begin the registration process, click here.

New Exhibits
During the month, the Museum will open the 3D/4D Zable Theater and the a new kid’s only zone (parents will also be allowed, as long as their child permits). If you want more information about these two new exhibits, check out the Museum’s newsletter.

If you would like more information on Museum events delivered to your inbox, click here to sign up for the Museum’s newsletter.