Reaching Lifelong Goals

This was possibly the most exciting day of our whole vacation, my trip to the National Air Space Museum on the National Mall.   This was probably the highest item on my History Major “Bucket List”.   I have been dreaming of seeing this museum for as long as I can remember, and this is a high point in my process of “Reaching Lifelong Goals” as this blog’s title reflects.  Our first trip to the Mall on our own, we trekked to the Metro Station with our “smartpass” tickets in hand.   Within about a half an hour, I was standing in downtown Washington DC.   Our first task was to hit Starbucks, adjacent to the Navy Memorial Metro stop.    As a side note, the East Coast seems to only have Starbucks as coffee options.   It is not like the Northwest where there are espresso drive through stores on  every corner and coffee shops of all flavors everywhere.  This lack of  caffeine availability was duly noted.  But I digress…   My heart was racing as we went through the security checkpoint  and I was able to see some Milestones of Flight Exhibits just waiting for me, beckoning somehow…   Looking up I was treated to Gen. Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis” in all of its orange glory (definitely a Oregon State Beaver plane…)  The huge open hall of the NASM entrance has some extremely historically significant artifacts and my journey began in earnest. John Glenn’s Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule,  the Gemini IV capsule ( the first American spacewalk by Ed White ) and the Apollo 11 Capsule “Columbia”.   Being a child of the 60s, the NASA race to the moon was a big part of my early interest in all things aviation.   Standing in the presence of these space craft was truly moving.    I had a hard time keeping my composure while looking inside of the moonshot capsule, thinking, I watched this happen so many years ago, history personified.   The aircrafts that are on display at this facility are the most significant examples of aviation history.   I’m sure to many folks, my wife included, they are just a bunch of old airplanes.   As a historian, I can no longer look at even the smallest artifact without having that “rush of history” come over me.

My primary specialty in history is World War One Aviation.   I will be writing on this topic and it is a big part of my life.    The WWI gallery was one of the most exciting areas of the NASM.   The Fokker DVII shown at left is one of the few remaining original examples of this German fighter.   It was brought back to the USA after the war and the Army tested it and used it for training for a few years in the 1920s.   The restoration of this aircraft is immaculate and it is one of the best examples anywhere in the world today.   Of course, I was really choked up about this one, spent many minutes just being “with” it.   Very big event for me.   Looking up, I saw one of the other holy grails of my visit the Albatros D.Va  “Stropp”. This is another original WWI vintage aircraft.  The colorful pattern on the wing fabric is called lozenge camouflage.   The restoration of this valuable aircraft is also absolutely flawless.   Aside from the dirt and grime of everyday flying, this is how a WWI Albatros fighter would look during its operational career.   Colorful, yes, but this is why the German Jastas (Squadrons) were called the “flying circus.   I cannot begin to convey the thrill of seeing these aircraft in the WWI Gallery.   This is my passion, and to see these original examples of my main aviation historical specialty was the 2nd most important highlight of my trip to this facility.   Tomorrow’s posting will continue with my trip to the National Air and Space Museum,  the experience cannot be handled in the space available for one blog post.   I need to chronicle the ultimate joy of this trip when I have calmed myself down from this posting a wee bit.    Stay tuned…

This installment begins my journal of my History Major Dream Vacation series.   During the first two weeks of September, my wife and I went on a cross-country vacation to visit her brother in the Wash DC area, a sister in Oley PA and my daughter in Columbus OH.  Our first stop was in Ohio to visit my Daughter Heather.   She lives about an hour north of the USAF National Museum in Dayton, OH.   Of course, this air museum is near the top of my “bucket list” of places to see before I die.   This is one of the best air museums in the US and has many very significant, famous aircraft.   I was so excited when I walked through the doors of this facility that I kind of left everyone in my party behind.   The first gallery of the museum has the WWI collection as it’s center piece.   Spads and Fokkers and Jennys, oh my!!   There are some very important aircraft in this collection, one WWI fighter used by the Allies and flown by our US pilots both before we entered the war in the French Escadrilles and the fledgling Air Corps was this SPAD VII.   This early version of the SPAD is very rare and the restoration is absolutely wonderful.  I was spellbound by all of these WWI aircraft as this is my primary focus in my Historical research.   The collection also contains artifacts from WWI that were of great interest to me

for my goal of writing a Biography of the WWI Ace Ernst Udet.   Here we have a section of fabric off of one of the aircraft that he shot down.   It has his name and the date of the victory on it.   After the war he returned this fabric to the pilot, a Lt. Wanamaker and the family donated it to the USAF Museum.   More fodder for my book, just one of the many interesting stories about Ernst Udet and his WWI Service.   He survived the war and became quite a celebrity in Germany and in the USA, befriending his former opponents and other aviation pioneers like Charles Lindbergh.   Moving on to the “golden age” of aviation in the 20s and 30s, the collection contains some one of a kind remaining samples of significant aircraft.   I was very excited to see these aircraft. The P-26 Peashooter was an early fighter of the USAAF and during the 30s carried some very colorful markings.   This little fighter served right up until the beginning of WWII in the pacific and were exported to a number of countries.   Wow, I was really getting worked up over theses rare aircraft and I was only in the first main gallery.   In the WWII Hangar, a huge building that housed many great aircraft I was drawn to one of the most historically significant planes in the museums I would be visiting, namely, the  B-29 “Bockscar” that dropped the second Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki Japan to end WWII.   On this trip I was in the presence of both of the Atomic aircraft  when I visited the NASM in Washington which houses the “Enola Gay”.   The “rush” of history was more than I could stand and this aircraft moved me to tears for its major historical significance.    This of course was totally lost on my Wife and she did not have the same experience at looking at this airplane.    Maybe I’m just that much of a Geek…

I am not able to post as many of the photos as I would like, but indulge me for a couple more for this installment of the Dream Vacation.   There were so many important aircraft on display that I ended up taking hundreds of digital images.   I am still sorting through the 1600 or so pictures and I will update them onto my Flicker account and make them available through the Reaching Lifelong Goals.com blog.   The aircraft of the 1950s are also an area of interest to me and I was happy to see some of my favorites in this section of the collection.   One of the last few remaining B-36 Peacemaker Bombers is on display.   This aircraft is incredible.  Six props and 4 jet engines to get this behemoth into the air!   I was only able to get a nose shot!

The spaceflight collection of the museum was also a treat, seeing one of the Apollo capsules (Apollo 15 I think…) that had actually been to the moon and back was a very moving sight as well.   Being a child of the 60s, I watched the NASA flights and built all the Revell models of the Mercury, Gemini and Moon landing Apollo spacecraft.   To actually stand in the presence of one of the command modules that went to the moon was truly moving, again, I was a blubbering fool.    I guess history gets to me more than most folks, as I have been waiting 35 years to reach a lifelong goal of becoming History Major!  Tomorrow we will have another installment of the History Major Dream Vacation.   Washington DC!!

Again, I have gone too long without posting.   I’ll have to make a strict goal about this…   One of the premier Christmas gifts from my wonderful wife this year was a membership in the Society for Military History.    Another professional historian association directly related to my area of study.   They publish a journal .   It is filled with scholarly works about military subjects (all eras) and reviews of other publications in the field.   I eat this stuff up, the wife says it would put her to sleep.   I have been able to digest a couple of issues now, and I am in geek heaven!!   As my college career advances as a nontraditional student and history major, this publication will be a great resource for me.   In addition, the contacts made through active participation in the Society will be extremely valuable down the road.   As I progress as a historian, essays and scholarly papers will be submitted for publication in the Journal.  To think that one of my historical essays could be a footnote in someone’s own paper is kind of a rush!! (history geek rush, but you get the picture…)   I pour through these types of papers every term in my research for assignments.   I have used my Endnote Program to develop my resource list for my Ernst Udet book and the Journal of Military History figures prominently in my saved notes.  My wife has a real knack for picking the perfect Christmas presents for me.   Thank goodness I thought better of giving her that lowly kitchen item as a gift.  It would be pale in comparison.   I will be looking forward to each quarterly edition of this journal, and will thank my wife for it each time.    Let’s see, quarterly publication, a dozen roses every few months…sounds like a win/win to me!!

My wonderful wife has given me the perfect birthday present, (actually it is next Friday the 22nd) with a long overdue membership to the League of WWI Aviation Historians. After a lifetime of interest in the Great War, and 20 years of active research, model building and study I am finally part of a group of my “peers”.   I have known about the League for a several years, but it has always been one of those “things I need to do, someday”.   Being a History Major and a nontraditional student, memberships in professional organizations such as this are very beneficial to your college career.  Associations in your field of study are available for everyone.   Many have special student rates for membership.   I have been “shopping” around in the field of History Studies and have found over 20 different organizations that I would be a member of.   Maintaining that many memberships would be daunting, so it pays to be selective.   I am unique in the fact that I plan to specialize in one area of history so I can be selective in the associations joined.   The resources and networking possibilities of a membership in the League of WWI Aviation Historians will be invaluable to my goal of writing the ultimate book about WWI Ace Ernst Udet.   I have already made a connection with an author of WWI history through Facebook (there is a whole post in the works about this story…)   Putting together research about WWI history is challenging at best, but with new friends and associations with fellow historians in the field, the sky is the limit!   The league has biennial meetings with seminars and presentations of scholarly papers and books.   The next meeting will be in 2011 and my goal is to have a good part of my Ernst Udet book and research ready for presentation.   A lofty goal, but one that will drive my progress toward a real-time deadline! (continue reading…)

I’m so excited!   I have just installed one of the best tools a Non Traditional Student could ever have – ENDNOTE – Bibliographies made easy.   This program is a must have for any serious research writing.   If you are a Non Traditional Student just getting started back in college, I whole heartedly recommend this program.   Go out and buy it today!!  Basically, Endnote  will allow you to SEARCH online bibliographic databases, ORGANIZE your references, images and downloaded PDF documents, and most important – CITE WHILE YOU WRITE!   I purchased the program Endnote 2.o, there are more updated versions available, but all will do everything you need when writing your research papers for college.  I am still in the learning curve…lots of features to master.   I did a cursory search of my probable thesis topic about WWI ace, Ernst Udet and was able to start locating some valuable resources.   And I have just scratched the surface of this program.   As an aside, I find that there has been very little written about Udet.   This is both a plus and minus for me.  One one hand, the available resources out there are few, but I don’t think my topic will have much competition out there.   I found just 17 references in the Library of Congress.   I will be digging into academic data bases when I get up to speed with Endnote.  One of the really fantastic features of this program is it’s integration with Office 2007.   Citation of references will be available with a single click, and the MLA foot note will be magically entered into the document I’m working on.   I’ll spend more time with the tutorials on Endnote and report my findings of the other spiffy features as I learn them.   If you are a Non Traditional Student that will be writing college level research papers over the next few years, this program is a definite must have.   I think there are a number of similar programs out there, but I had this one suggested to me by my History Professor.   He said if this program would have been available when he was writing his Thesis, life would have been sooooo much easier!!  I will update this post with more information about Endnote.  I will be diving into using it for my Non Traditional Student research paper for my WR123 class….Now that I mention this, I have a due date for my mid-term portfolio coming up soon.   Better climb that learning curve quickly!