Just wanted to share a few pictures I took at the newly dedicated Pacific Air Museum located on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. I took my Dad there on April 7, 2007 3 days after my mother's passing hoping that a father son outing would get us out of the house and cheer him up even a little. I'm not sure it worked as the sadness remains on his face in every picture. We saw several authentic and historically important aircraft the 3 most favorite pictured including a REAL Mitsubishi Zero which are rare as hen's teeth nowadays this example found in the jungles of the Solomon Islands, and restored to flying condition before being purchased by the museum. Another classic favorite was the B-25 Mitchell same model as used by Jimmy Doolittle to bomb Tokyo just a few short months after Pearl Harbor. The F4F Wildcat also a unsung hero of the Pacific Theatre accomplishing more than it's older design had any right too. There will be a Douglas Dauntless added to the collection very shortly. In the museum store we found a great book for $6.00 chronicling the US offensive in the South Pacific with most action my dad was involved in in New Guinea and The Philipines cited, can't wait to dig into it but must finish "Flyboys" first, a great read I highly recommend. Now every weekend I fly over I bring a new 1/48 scale Pacific Theatre model to build with him just like we did 40 years earlier, so far a P-61 Black Widow, a Martin B-26 Marauder (to honor his best childhood friend Sheldon Oakes who was a radio man in one shot down over Sicliy by German fighters in 1943), and last week end we built a Boeing A-20 Havoc. I think next will be a B-25. I'm trying my best to keep his mind occupied with pleasant thoughts but not easy. Tomorrow is the one month aniversary of Mom's death and I hope he will be okay, not sure if I will be.
Mitsubishi Zero
North American B-25 Mitchell
Grumman F4F Wildcat
The USS Arizona Memorial & USS Missouri where the war began & ended
If you ever get a chance to visit Hawaii please don't miss this memorial complex comprising the USS Arizona, USS Missouri, USS Bowfin (submarine), and the newly dedicated (rightly so on December 7, 2006) Pacific Air Museum which honor all these brave young (and once young) man who fought so bravely.
Greetings for Dad...
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