The National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida
By Len Shurtleff
Entrance To the First World War Section
The National Naval Aviation Museum Opened its World War One exhibit on Thursday, 19 April 2007. The new section divided into four distinct dioramas.
1. A seaplane ramp as these appeared on the shores of NAS Pensacola, where the majority of naval aviation personnel were trained during World War I, features a Curtiss MF flying boat of the type flown at Pensacola. Also, visitors will hear the sound effects of lapping waves and sea gulls, as well as see barnacles growing on the wooden ramp.
Modeler Ray Morrissette and Hill Goodspeed of the Museum Staff in the Foreground
They are Examining Ray's 1/12 Scratch-Built Gotha Bomber
The Seaplane Ramp with Curtiss MF Flying Boat Trainer in the Background
2. An airfield scene somewhere in France includes a battle-scarred building that serves as a makeshift home for combat pilots complete with wartime music and a flickering flame in a pot belly stove. A machine gun nest guards a muddy airstrip on which a biplane resembling a Nieuport sits ready to launch on a mission. This diorama also features a period ambulance poised to take wounded airmen to a field hospital.
Two Views of the Air Field Scene: Pilots' Room (Upper),
Nieuport Fighter & Ambulance (Lower)
3. World War I was the first conflict in which airplanes served in great numbers, and the accomplishments of wartime aviators captured life public's imagination. This carried over into the postwar years when fliers formed makeshift aerial troupes and flew from town to town giving airplane rides and flight demonstrations. They were called "Barnstormers" and their aircraft was generally the Curtiss JN "Jenny" trainers, which could be purchased as war surplus for a few hundred dollars, This section of the exhibit depicts a Barnstormer aircraft that has landed in a farmer's field in during the early 1920s.
Curtis "Jenny"
4. Observations of British Royal Navy operations during World War I inspired U S Navy personnel to call for the development of aircraft carriers. The first step in this process took place at Guantanamo Buy, Cuba, in the winter of 1919 when some battleships were fitted with wooden platforms atop their gun turrets so that they could launch wheeled aircraft. In this diorama, a Sopwith Camel sits on a replica of one of these decks as it looked on board USS Texas. Flying over the diorama an Allied fighter chases a Fokker D.VII, one of Germany's most feared fighters of World War I.
Sopwith Camel Deck Scene
Each diorama includes a touch-screen kiosk with interactive programs designed by Mr. Ken Young. Literally at their fingertips, visitors can learn about the items displayed in each diorama, the information complemented by period images. They can also view an animated dogfight, read about wartime aircraft, and hear voices from the past in the form of words from actual letters written by World War I servicemen at Pensacola and overseas.
Fokker D-VII Darts Over the Collection
When the National Museum of Naval Aviation opened its doors in 1963, World War One veterans were among the first donors and since that time a number of amazing artifacts have been added to the collections. Many are on display in mahogany cases including uniforms, medals, and weaponry, as well as a mandolin on which a sailor recorded his wartime assignments and a bullet-damaged section of a propeller blade. One artifact is the camouflaged fabric removed from the fuselage of a German Fokker aircraft. Other mahogany cases display the twenty-two 1/12th scale models of WWI aircraft donated by Raymond E. Morrissette, a retired manufacturing engineer from Gainesville, Florida.
Two of Ray Morrisette's Models:
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's Spad-XIII & A Curtiss-HS Flying Boat
