| The National Naval Aviation Museum is a place that | | | | museum. |
| brings together different people who have one thing in | | | | "It's a wonderful moment when the guy who actually |
| common: a love of aviation. | | | | flew the plane comes and checks it out," said |
| Located at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida, the | | | | Eckhouse. "We try to restore them as close to the |
| museum has a flight simulator that depicts a jet fighter | | | | factory specs as we can." |
| swooping into battle during the first Iraq war, a | | | | Volunteer Jeff Peyronnin, 62, who served in the Coast |
| seven-story atrium that features a collection of Blue | | | | Guard, has spent the last two years working on the |
| Angels jets hanging from the ceiling, an IMAX theater | | | | Coronado's tail section. |
| that shows a film about the acrobatic fliers, and a | | | | "Every time you mess with it you feel like you are |
| café that is a recreation of the Cubi Point | | | | touching history," he said. "I like to picture this old lady at |
| officer's club in the Philippines. | | | | Tokyo Bay." |
| However, the main attractions of the National Naval | | | | World War II veteran Les Schnyder, 82, has logged |
| Aviation Museum, which opened in 1963 and has been | | | | more than 18,000 hours as a volunteer. His specialty is |
| expanded three times, are its restored aircraft. Among | | | | restoring the blimplike airships that escorted convoys in |
| them is the Navy's S-3B Viking that President Bush | | | | WWII, and many of his restoration projects are already |
| flew when he landed on the carrier Abraham Lincoln | | | | on display inside the museum. |
| and made his "Mission Accomplished" speech about | | | | Some of the planes were brought back to life after |
| the Iraq war. | | | | being pulled from the water years later, including an |
| The PB2Y Coronado, the first US plane that landed in | | | | early World War II era Brewster Buccaneer that was |
| Tokyo after World War II, is the latest restoration | | | | at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. It later |
| project of the museum. Restorations are undertaken | | | | flew in the Battle of Midway before becoming a |
| by mostly volunteers composing of hundreds of | | | | training aircraft for pilots practicing carrier landings in |
| military retirees. | | | | Lake Michigan, where it sank after a crash. It was only |
| The volunteers often draw on their own military | | | | salvaged from the lake six decades later. |
| experience to make the restorations authentic. | | | | Wally Farrand, after 22 years in the Navy, now |
| Thousands of hours in labor are contributed each year | | | | restores the museum's vintage aircraft engines, |
| to the museum, making the volunteer program a model | | | | including the Brewster's. He joked that his best work is |
| for other museums. | | | | never seen by visitors because it is inside the aircraft. |
| Former Navy pilot Mort Eckhouse, 79, has logged | | | | "But everything I do here, I just love it," he said. |
| thousands of volunteer hours over almost 20 years of | | | | And it is that kind of tireless dedication from the |
| working in the restoration area's machine shop. He | | | | volunteers that keeps the museum running smoothly. |
| meticulously recreates rusted and broken aircraft parts | | | | For operation hours, activities and other information |
| on donated 1950s era milling machines. His work is then | | | | about the National Naval Aviation Museum, visit |
| tested whenever a pilot or crew member of a | | | | Source: community.warplanes. |
| restored aircraft sees the finished product in the | | | | |