S M I T H S O N I A N   I N S T I T U T I O N
N A T I O N A L   A I R   &   S P A C E   M U S E U M

Washington D.C.

Walking out of the exhibit, I pass by this model of the USS Enterprise, CVN-65. The actual ship is 1,123 feet long and can travel at speeds up to 160 mph. Wow, that's pretty fast for a boat this large, or for any boat. Oh, wait, it launches its planes using a catapult system that whips the planes off the deck at 160 mph. Now, that seems a little more reasonable.

When I was a kid I used to build models, not of ships, but of tractor trailer trucks and airplanes. I'd spend a lot of time and effort building them, but it was nothing compared to the efforts of this model's builder. Over about a 1,000 year time period, Stephen Henninger spent 12 hours building this incredible model. Wow, that's incredible! Ummm, how is that possible? Oh, wait, correction. He spent about 1,000 hours over a 12-year period building the model. Now, that's what I call dedication.

Operating under the banner of the Great War in the Air, the World War I Aviation Gallery examines the myths and realities of air war during World War I.

In no other aviation era will you find more propaganda, romance, exaggerated truths, half truths, and all out fabrications than during World War I. I suppose that's understandable, the airplane was a relatively newcomer to the world's stage, expectations hadn't been set, so the sky was the limit.

Despite its popularity with the masses, utilization of the airplane as a fighting force during World War I really didn't have an impact on the overall outcome of the war. Figher pilot aces remain one of the war's most celebrated heroes. Interestingly enough, most were not considered pilots and very few pilots were actually masters of their fighting craft. I think their undeserved popularity had more to do with the public's fascination with concept of the airplane than anything else.

Walking inside the exhibit, I find myself surrounded by the many great fighter pilot aces that fought the... oh, wait, never mine... I'm surrounded by many interesting looking planes, including:

• Fokker D.VII
• SPAD XIII Smith IV
• Sopwith Snipe
• Voisin VIII
• Albatros D.Va
• Pfalz D.VII