Tag: aviation

Checking out Top Secret exhibit on USS Midway!

Top Secret: Inside the High-Stakes World of Naval Intelligence is a fantastic exhibit that opened on the USS Midway Museum last year. I finally checked it out a few days ago.

The exhibit takes visitors through the Carrier Intelligence Center, which is contained in a surprisingly large area (1,500 square feet) under the USS Midway aircraft carrier’s flight deck, spanning its entire width. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the Carrier Intelligence Center served as the nerve center for intelligence gathering and analysis, mission planning, and strategic decision-making.

Today visitors can enjoy interactive displays that demonstrate how, years ago, in a less technologically advanced era, naval intelligence was gathered and analyzed, to aid combat operations, search and rescue, and humanitarian missions.

Walking through the exhibit, I observed how Intelligence Specialists worked like detectives. It was interesting to see how analog instruments were used to analyze gathered information. Imagine my surprise seeing an old-fashioned slide rule, which was used to calculate the size of structures in photos taken from a great distance! Some of the original, restored equipment includes teletypes and radio receivers.

I learned that specialists who gathered, analyzed and acted upon critical information included Air Intelligence Officers, Aerographer’s Mates, Photographers Mates, Cryptologic Technicians, Squadron Aviation Intelligence Officers… In combat, when every moment might mean life or death, everyone must work quickly and efficiently as a team to achieve success.

Top Secret: Inside the High-Stakes World of Naval Intelligence is so amazing it earned the MUSE Gold Award in the Experiential and Immersive Exhibition category!

If all this sounds interesting to you, head over the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego and check it out!

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A ship, an airplane, or a unique trolley station?

Motorists heading down Interstate 8 at the east end of Mission Valley can’t help but notice this elevated trolley station. It’s the Grantville Station, of the San Diego Trolley’s Green Line.

The architecture of the Grantville Station is truly eye-catching and unique. Small signs posted in various places explain:

The central courtyard is a river-like gathering spot surrounded by pillars and beneath the station. Free form cast stone veneer walls, water washed flagstone caps, native riparian trees, shrubbery, and river rock mulch become a visual link to the nearby San Diego River.

Leather ferns and bamboo reeds planted near the stairwells grow from the plaza towards the elevated station 40 feet above.

The soaring station is a tribute to the aviation and nautical industries. The Trolley platform bows out in the middle, inspired by ship and plane architecture. The design repeats in the granite benches and bus shelters.

At night, spectacular streams of light beam upwards illuminating the pillars, stairways and octagonal tops of the twin elevator shafts.

On the platform, enjoy the unparalleled views to the north and south before boarding a Trolley to your next destination.

San Diego’s rich history includes important ships, shipyards, major aviation milestones and airplane construction.

The station’s architect was Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc. and the station first opened in July, 2005.

Last month I disembarked at the Grantville Station and walked around with my camera…

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Amelia Earhart at San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Amelia Earhart was an aviation pioneer best known for her disappearance over the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. But some might not know that she became a popular American hero by setting numerous flight records.

Visitors to the San Diego Air & Space Museum will find several displays that recall how she accomplished historic world’s firsts, including the first female solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, the first female solo flight across the United States, and the first solo flight from Hawaii to the United States mainland.

Her portrait can be found in the museum’s Hall of Fame Hallway. Amelia was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1967. This Hall of Fame webpage describes her many successes, including setting multiple speed records.

Visitors can listen to an animatronic Amelia Earhart talking about her life, and view a reproduction of a Lockheed Vega 5B, the type of aircraft she flew while setting many world records. The airplane in the museum was created for the Hollywood film Amelia.

There are also artifacts that show how she was a celebrity in her time, a leader in the fight for women’s rights, promoter of commercial aviation, and a founder of the Ninety-Nines, an International Organization of Women Pilots.

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is a must visit for everybody. It’s crammed full of cool exhibits, representing the dawn of flight right up to present-day space exploration.

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San Diego Takes Flight at History Center!

Every time I visit Balboa Park, I poke my nose into the San Diego History Center. It seems there’s always something new to experience!

In the atrium today I noticed a small, new exhibit titled San Diego Takes Flight! Several displays concern the Curtiss School of Aviation, established in 1911 at North Island, Coronado.

Photographs accompany descriptions of Glenn Curtiss and his students learning about the characteristics of flight on newly invented airplanes, including hydroplanes that took off from San Diego Bay. In that early era, most aviation exhibitions in the United States featured Curtiss graduates flying his planes.

Curtiss’ collaboration with the U.S. Navy in San Diego would be instrumental in the birth of naval aviation.

This exhibit at the San Diego History Center includes the participation of women at the Curtiss School of Aviation and their historic accomplishments.

Years ago, during a walk in Coronado near the Ferry Landing, I photographed a historical plaque marking the birthplace of naval aviation.

To see those photos and read the words on that plaque, click here.

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Aerial Races mural at Air and Space Museum!

Several very cool murals adorn a curved interior wall at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I particularly like this one. It was painted beneath the older and much larger March of Transportation mural.

I’m not sure if it has an official title–it’s described as a pre-World War I scenic mural…depicting an imaginary airfield in France, about the time of the first great aerial races and daring exhibitions… It was painted in March, 1984 by New Zealand pilot and artist-designer Jon Francis Petrie.

In the mural, words painted on an observation tower indicate: ROUEN Aérodrome La Grande Exposition d’AVIATION 1910.

I’ve tried to search for biographical info on the artist, but to no avail, except that he was born in 1940. Perhaps someone who is knowledgeable can leave a comment.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

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Memories on the 250th birthday of the U.S. Navy.

Today is officially the 250th birthday of the United States Navy. On October 13, 2025, the U.S. Navy was established by the Continental Congress.

Needless to say, the Navy has a very large presence in San Diego, with important bases that include Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Point Loma, Naval Air Station North Island (where naval aviation was born), and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. Over the years, countless sailors trained at the old Naval Training Center San Diego, and have deployed from San Diego’s harbor on ships in both wartime and peacetime. Until 1997, Top Gun pilots trained at Naval Air Station Miramar.

I’ve published a wide variety of blogs concerning the U.S. Navy in San Diego. Given today’s 250th anniversary, I thought this would be a good time to revisit some of those past blog posts.

Click the following links to bring back some U.S. Navy memories…

Creating a plaque: Navy history in San Diego revealed!

History of recruits at Naval Training Center San Diego.

The Ship’s Bell mosaic at Liberty Station.

Inside the Navy’s landlocked USS Recruit training ship!

Nautical History Gallery & Museum opens!

The Naked Warrior stands in Coronado park.

Chow: Feeding a Navy in San Diego.

Coronado’s surprising role in submarine history.

Top Gun fans vs. reality on USS Midway!

Monument to tallest structures ever built in San Diego.

Bronze plaque marks birthplace of naval aviation.

Memories of the Greatest Generation at Liberty Station.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

A funny Air Mail mailbox in Pacific Beach!

An unusual mailbox is located high above the sidewalk in Pacific Beach. You might see it while cruising down Ingraham Street.

What’s that? I wondered during my walk today. Is that actually a mailbox? Only a mail delivery giant could possibly reach it!

Then I zoomed my camera in for a closer photograph…

Oh, I see! The funny mailbox is for Air Mail! Makes perfect sense!

Hopefully the mail delivery aircraft doesn’t stall!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Glider history made in San Diego’s Point Loma.

Did you know that glider history was made above the bluffs of Point Loma in San Diego?

Two landmark plaques that commemorate this history (which includes the breaking of a sailplane flight duration world record) are located just inside the entrance gate of Cabrillo National Monument. A small dirt footpath leads up to the boulder upon which they are mounted. Beyond, a slope descends steeply to the Pacific Ocean.

I recently walked from the Cabrillo National Monument’s visitor center down to the plaques to have a close look…

The plaque on the left states:

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE EARLY AVIATION PIONEERS THAT FLEW AMERICAN DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED SAILPLANES IN SAN DIEGO. THESE AVIATORS ARE REMEMBERED BY THOSE WHO FLEW AFTER THEM AND THE CITIZENS OF SAN DIEGO

John C. Barstow – William Hawley Bowlus – Alan R. Essery – Forrest H. Hieatt – Anne Lindbergh – Earle R. Mitchell – Adolph R. “Bud” Perl – William Beuby – Lowell E. Bullen – Albert E. Hastings – I. N. Lawson – Charles A. Lindbergh – Allison J. Moore – William Van Dusen

SAN DIEGO SAILPLANE ENTHUSIASTS – THE ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST

(Yes, the names include Anne and Charles A. Lindbergh!)

The plaque on the right states:

POINT LOMA

THIS LANDMARK IS DEDICATED TO THE PIONEERING SPIRITS OF THE PILOTS WILLIAM HAWLEY BOWLUS AND JOHN C. BARSTOW WHO MADE MILESTONE FLIGHTS IN GLIDER HISTORY AT THIS SITE

WILLIAM HAWLEY BOWLUS – FIRST AMERICAN SOARING FLIGHT TO EXCEED ONE HOUR DURATION – 1 HOUR 21 MINUTES OCTOBER 19, 1929

JOHN C. BARSTOW – DURATION FLIGHT OF 15 HOURS 13 MINUTES EXCEEDING THE WORLD RECORD – APRIL 29-30, 1930

DEDICATED APRIL 27, 1996

THE NATIONAL SOARING MUSEUM – HARRIS HILL, ELMIRA NY – AN AFFILIATE OF THE SOARING SOCIETY OF AMERICA

SPONSORED BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Fly your kite on this world-famous hilltop!

The first controlled winged flight in human history took place in San Diego in 1883. That’s when John J. Montgomery launched his glider from the top of a breezy hill in Otay Mesa West. So it stands to reason that the famous hill today would be an ideal spot to fly your kite!

The grassy hill, where a monument to Montgomery’s legendary flight now stands, experiences plenty of sunshine and a nearly constant breeze. The hilltop’s expansive Montgomery-Waller Community Park is a place where families gather for picnics, sports and recreation . . . and to enjoy their own special flight!

I sat on a park bench today for a few minutes and watched a kite dancing in the cloudless, blue San Diego sky…

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Thank you for sharing!

Balboa Theatre centennial: A salute to San Diego military!

The Balboa Theatre in downtown San Diego is celebrating its centennial. The old vaudeville/movie theatre opened in 1924, survived a threatened demolition, and has experienced a beautiful restoration. Today the Balboa Theatre is a popular concert and event venue whose splendid interior and pipe organ recalls what entertainment was like in San Diego a century ago.

I’ve learned a special event is coming on Friday, March 29, that honors both the historic theater’s centennial and San Diego’s military. The Flying Fleet, a silent movie released in 1929, will be returning to life, accompanied by the Wonder Morton theatre pipe organ played by Ken Double.

Much of The Flying Fleet was filmed in San Diego. Scenes depict two love smitten pilots training at Naval Air Station North Island. The romantic drama includes action from the United States Navy’s first aircraft carrier USS Langley! You might consider The Flying Fleet a melodramatic prequel to Top Gun!

Is your budget feeling stressed? Tickets are a whopping $3.50!

Interested in learning more? Click here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!