Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 San Diego Museum of Air and Space.

This was the most interesting museum that I visited.

This museum is located next door to the automotive museum. I showed a few of the attractions in a previous post, but I'll share the rest of the photos that I took.

The Montgomery glider.

The Montgomery glider shares a connection with San Jose. Montgomery achieved his first manned flights on Otay Mesa near San Diego, and conducted much of his early work there. He later moved to  the East foothills of San Jose, where he conducted many of his experimental flights. He built a track that ran down a hillside that was used to launch his flying machine. This is also where he lost his life to an aviation accident.There is a park named after him located near that hillside.

This monument is located at an entrance to Evergreen College.

The wing memorial is located there also.

History seems more vivid when it is linked to your home area. There is a 1946 movie named Gallant Journey, starring Glenn Ford, that chronicles the life of John J. Montgomery. I went looking on YouTube and found that the movie is available for free. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

Impressive to see this helicopter suspended in the air.
Cue up the flight of the Valkyries!

A Ford Tri Motor commercial airliner.

A replica of Amila Earhart's plane.

You can get quite close to the airplanes that are on display.

I noticed that this museum was popular with a lot of young people.

The inline engine differs from the radial design engines.

These are familiar as they were wing mounted on many bombers.

This is a replica of the Mercury capsule used for 
America's first manned space flight.

The public was invited to squeeze inside, so I did!

As seen in Star Wars.

There was also a display of Ripley's Believe it or Not "oddities" in an adjacent hall. I had visited the Ripley's museum at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf many years ago. I also have recently been to the museum in Newport Oregon. These had a more comprehensive display. I didn't find most of this interesting enough to photograph. However, my Wife and I did enjoy our visit to the museum in Newport.

There was a replica of the world's tallest human, which was kind of sad as his condition considerably shortened his lifespan and plagued him with many medical issues.

Being a giant does not turn out well for humans.

This post completes my reporting on my visit to San Diego. San Diego is one of the nicest of California's major cities and well worth a visit.