Warbirds!

The Warbirds Air Museum in Titusville! Next on our museum list!

We'd seen rockets, and moon walker hand prints, and now it was time to see some vintage planes, props and jets alike!

After lunch in town, we took the short trip to what used to be called Valiant Air Command but is now the Warbird Air Museum.

We entered through... the gift shop. Bought our tickets and were introduced to a seasoned veteran of the museum who gave us a few tips about what to see.

As we chatted, I shared that I'd had uncles that had flown with the R.C.A.F. in a Halifax bomber, one of which was pulled from a lake and restored by volunteers in Trenton, ON, much like the rebuilt Wildcat they had on display that was also rescued from the deep.

He took us under his wing, as it were, and gave us a two hour guided tour of the museum, going hangar to hangar, plane to plane, and explaining all kinds of interesting facts about the aircraft on display.

One of the coolest World War II warbirds they have is a twin Mustang, the only one in the world. It was rebuilt from parts of four different airplanes and represents an effort to extend the range of the P-51 for bomber escort. It featured two fuselages joined by a center section, and would use two pilots, presumably spelling each other off on the extended flights made possible by the aircraft's configuration.

Speaking of Mustangs, here's a three quarter scale replica that is said to be faster than the original.

We were shown the area where planes are currently undergoing restoration, and all kinds of other cool machines, many of which are in flying trim.

It was a wonderful day, with too much to take in. For techno-nerd flying nuts like me, the Titusville museums are a must see!

The next day, we'd take on the Kennedy Space Center. But for now, we had plans.

Chicken plans.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped and topped up on Publix fried chicken, totally addicted to the deep fried bird.