I got to meet a true hero this morning, General Jack Dailey, retired USMC pilot and director of the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum. As part of our time here this weekend, there are a number of events that guests can attend. One that I was really excited about was a before-opening private tour of the museum personally led by General Dailey. There were only 3 of us, I think because it was about 5 degrees this morning when I left the hotel. Holy schmoly it's cold.
Anyway. General Dailey
is a veteran of 250 missions during 2 tours in Viet Nam, was vice
commandant of the Marine Corps and was number 2 at NASA before taking
over the Air & Space Museum 7 years ago. He is personal friends
with many famous figures in aviation including John Glenn, Jim Lovell,
Alan Bean, and many others. The 2 hours I got to spend with him were
fascinating as we walked the museum. He's flown just about everything
the Marines fly, and he was one of the leaders of the development of
the new V-22 Osprey helicopter/airplane hybrid.
The museum goes all the way from early astronomy to early flight, the wars, commercial aviation and space flight. One interesting thing is that the Russians, to raise money, have been selling their Soviet space flight memorabilia. Ross Perot, and others, have been buying the stuff and lending it to the museum. The museum actually has the space suit worn by Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space right next to the suit worn by John Glenn on Mercury 7, the first orbital flight.
Bob & General Dailey
I could go on and on, but I'm off to lunch. More tonight. Here's the link to the Air & Space Museum website. It's fascinating stuff.
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