Zach & Jared Visit the Air & Space Museum Feb. 16, 2002 Due to their increasing (and intense) interest in the aircraft of WWII (properly pronounced "dub-dub-two"), I took the boys downtown on the Metro to visit some of the real aircraft they've been studying . . . and modelling . . . and cutting out pictures to tape to their bedroom walls . . . and going on the Internet to locate the recorded sound of actual Spitfires or Messerschmitts . . . Below are a few shots of our visit. And, apparently, only about 6 quadjillion other people suddenly became interested in Spitfires, Messerschmitts, and Japanese 'Zeroes' today as well. Zach said, "I got to touch World War II!" Here the boys are in a verbal scuffle with another young fellow who strongly asserted that the pictured aircraft is an Italian plane. My boys were equally certain that it is a Curtiss P51 B Mustang (it is). The guys were delighted to discover a photo of their current hero, Lt. Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington of the infamous Black Sheep Squadron. The famed English "Spitfire" employed in the "Battle of Britain." CLICK HERE to hear the actual sound of a Spitfire engine (maybe you thought I was kidding?) This works best in Explorer, and takes several seconds for the sound to start. These guys are insane about nothing, er a "Zero" (a Mitsubishi A6M5 to be specific -- one of the aircraft used to bomb Pearl Harbor) Finally, the boys went crazy when they saw that one could purchase authentic dogtags, complete with "silencers" (rubber edges to prevent your enemy from hearing the tags jingle). They are so proud of them. [Sorry, Dad, I could not talk them into "US Navy"] Thanks for dropping by. You can visit the National Air & Space Muesum, too: