CharlesXII here, narrating your road trip from Waterloo, Iowa to Washington DC
| Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/21/19 | | Spectacular theater newt | 03/21/19 | | 180 green church | 03/21/19 | | sienna arousing tattoo | 03/21/19 | | smoky boyish brunch | 03/22/19 | | Mentally impaired lake gaming laptop | 03/21/19 | | stirring blue indian lodge | 03/21/19 | | gaped bawdyhouse pisswyrm | 03/22/19 | | Bossy Offensive Tank Forum | 03/21/19 | | Bipolar volcanic crater | 03/21/19 | | flatulent charismatic shrine halford | 03/21/19 | | sienna arousing tattoo | 03/21/19 | | flatulent charismatic shrine halford | 03/21/19 | | 180 green church | 03/21/19 | | 180 green church | 03/21/19 | | hyperactive sapphire set pistol | 03/21/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/21/19 | | Henna sadistic site coffee pot | 03/21/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/21/19 | | razzle trump supporter | 03/21/19 | | Bisexual Legal Warrant Pozpig | 03/21/19 | | Beady-eyed Striped Hyena Spot | 03/23/19 | | 180 green church | 03/21/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/21/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/21/19 | | Mahogany low-t preventive strike | 03/21/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/21/19 | | Mahogany low-t preventive strike | 03/21/19 | | carmine swashbuckling shitlib | 03/22/19 | | White drunken personal credit line | 03/21/19 | | opaque deep hospital | 03/21/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/21/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | Odious Misanthropic Black Woman | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | excitant sooty public bath round eye | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | fragrant factory reset button ticket booth | 03/22/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/22/19 | | hyperactive sapphire set pistol | 03/22/19 | | Internet-worthy keepsake machete range | 04/20/19 | | smoky boyish brunch | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | smoky boyish brunch | 03/22/19 | | Ivory Territorial Dingle Berry Genital Piercing | 03/22/19 | | Chocolate Abode | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | titillating patrolman library | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | titillating patrolman library | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | Bossy Offensive Tank Forum | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/23/19 | | opaque deep hospital | 03/23/19 | | Overrated iridescent ratface telephone | 03/22/19 | | stimulating field | 03/22/19 | | 180 green church | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/22/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/22/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/23/19 | | crawly principal's office | 03/23/19 | | 180 green church | 03/23/19 | | yellow circlehead | 03/23/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/23/19 | | hyperactive sapphire set pistol | 03/23/19 | | Beady-eyed Striped Hyena Spot | 03/23/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/23/19 | | 180 green church | 03/23/19 | | ruddy floppy stage love of her life | 03/23/19 | | hyperactive sapphire set pistol | 03/23/19 | | Bossy Offensive Tank Forum | 03/23/19 | | Gold blathering lodge useless brakes | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/23/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/23/19 | | Beady-eyed Striped Hyena Spot | 03/23/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | Bossy Offensive Tank Forum | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | smoky boyish brunch | 03/24/19 | | Gold blathering lodge useless brakes | 03/24/19 | | excitant sooty public bath round eye | 03/24/19 | | 180 green church | 03/24/19 | | excitant sooty public bath round eye | 03/24/19 | | Gold blathering lodge useless brakes | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | razzmatazz maize athletic conference | 03/24/19 | | Plum mind-boggling chapel party of the first part | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | Bipolar volcanic crater | 03/24/19 | | burgundy digit ratio native | 03/24/19 | | Beady-eyed Striped Hyena Spot | 03/24/19 | | burgundy digit ratio native | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 03/24/19 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 04/20/19 | | Passionate Silver Hominid Organic Girlfriend | 04/20/19 | | 180 green church | 04/20/19 | | slippery cerebral plaza regret | 07/16/22 | | Cordovan appetizing parlor | 04/20/19 | | Lime judgmental trust fund goyim | 04/20/19 | | 180 green church | 04/20/19 |
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Date: March 21st, 2019 1:37 AM Author: Cordovan appetizing parlor
'Sup bros. I know a bunch of people want to learn about Budapest and Prague, but that's gonna have to wait for a few days. In the meantime, we need to drive a 2008 Honda Accord from Waterloo, Iowa all the way back to Washington D.C. Sure, we could do that in one day as a straight shot, but why do that when we can make a kooky weekend-long Bobby Digital roadtrip out of it?
Our first stop along the trip is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. Hoover is the earliest president to have an official presidential library, and while most of these libraries are in at least medium-sized cities, Hoover's is right next to his birthplace in the tiny town of West Branch, Iowa.
https://imgur.com/a/tXww5Bl
Hoover is one of America's lowest-rated president, but his library will do its best to make him seem like the most 180 American to ever live.
The first part of the museum quickly summarizes Hoover's early life. It's low on artifacts, but it does have a recreation of the shitty shack Hoover had to live in while leading mining operations in Australia.
https://imgur.com/a/NxHe93K
Hoover graduated from Stanford at 20 with no job prospects. Rather than applying to law school, he took a more enterprising approach: A London firm wanted an experienced mining engineer, at least 35 years old. So Hoover just grew a beard, bought a tweed suit, and faked being an oldmo. This completely worked.
https://imgur.com/a/oYCNfqH
After maeking it in Australia, Hoover and his wife moved to China, where they learned Chinese, lived like mandarins, and survived the Boxer Rebellion at an age where you were using Purell at a cubicle desk. The museum has some of their China swag.
https://imgur.com/a/uWGMcUp
https://imgur.com/a/6Bzl3QY
At the age of 28, Hoover was one of the most elite mining engineers in the world, and was salaried at $33,000 a year, close a million in today's dollars. That's just a standard biglaw PPP these days, but back then it made Hoover supposed the richest salaryman of his age in the world.
https://imgur.com/a/rmIvYrx
After a decade, Hoover was tremendously wealthy. But then, he did something incredible: He walked away from striving after wealth to become the world's most famous humanitarian. When World War I broke out, he quit his mining job to focus first on helping Americans flee Europe, and then masterminding food relief for the continent. Hoover made huge loans to help people flee Europe, and pledged his entire personal fortune multiple times in order to get his relief operation off the ground. The museum has a bunch of items sent to Hoover by grateful Europeans from across the continent.
https://imgur.com/a/38A5vgw
https://imgur.com/a/FSdXa1q
https://imgur.com/a/O1l4Vl3
https://imgur.com/a/IrmSmSV
One weird album from Germany has shitty kid art of brown natives in a far-off country harvesting food for Hoover's relief effort:
https://imgur.com/a/i5NmMHg
For some reason, the museum also has a jigsaw puzzle of Latvia:
https://imgur.com/a/ARlQgbM
After WW1 ended, Hoover was one of the most popular people in the entire world. The museum can't resist noting that FDR wanted Hoover to be president at this time:
https://imgur.com/a/9lo0ThQ
In the 1920s, Hoover served as Warren Harding's and Calvin Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce. Under every other president Commerce has been a borderline irrelevant department, but Hoover made it one of the most visible and active departments in the country. He spearheaded the standardization of radio and the implementation of safety standards for car and airline travel. He turned the Census Bureau into a huge data operation for American businesses. He promoted home ownership and created the Colorado River Compact. Hoover's enthusiasm for work was so intense he routinely invaded other departments and took control of projects he thought other secretaries were mismanaging.
https://imgur.com/a/NBrCdAe
Now, of course, things start to go badly for Hoover. He wins the presidency in a landslide, but the economy tanks and Hoover takes all the blame. The museum tries very hard to make Hoover sound like a prophet who anticipated the stock market crash, but had his warnings ignore by greedy business interests.
https://imgur.com/a/PaP1xG8
The museum also highlights a surprisingly R-rated joke by Hoover.
https://imgur.com/a/6VAEk08
A small exhibit highlights the extremely brave effort of Republican operatives who had to push for Hoover's reelection in 1932. It did not end well:
https://imgur.com/a/ZhPqlZz
https://imgur.com/a/d9NpdM5
Media was really retarded a century ago, too. Some woman thought her knee creases looked like Hoover and it was a big story:
https://imgur.com/a/A1Rn1gm
Hoover's wife (who had the badass hobby of collecting weapons) pissed off a lot of people by inviting a black woman to dine at the White House. The Museum preserves a deranged letter the First Family was sent by an irate Southern woman.
https://imgur.com/a/IYFh2Xw
Teleprompters are apparently a lot older than I thought:
https://imgur.com/a/Ws4AK48
Lots of presidential libraries have a replica of that president's Oval Office. Fittingly for a man whose life was 180 except for his time as president, Hoover's library instead has a replica of his post-presidency office in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. From here, Hoover wrote a mountain of books and articles that set the standard for an American post-presidency. Some of his ideas were good (he suggested banning ghost-writers in politics), and some were terrible (he wanted four strikes in baseball).
https://imgur.com/a/GxiWDgv
Outside the museum is Hoover's tomb, which lies within sight of his preserved childhood home.
https://imgur.com/a/xAJHNDK
That was a sedate but pleasant start to a very long drive. Our next stop will be a lot more energetic: We're going to Doobs' #1 truck stop.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37964515) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2019 12:51 PM Author: gaped bawdyhouse pisswyrm
read the handwritten note:
"how do you like our boyfriend [?] on his knees?"
i think its a lewd joke.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37971549) |
Date: March 21st, 2019 6:58 AM Author: hyperactive sapphire set pistol
Dems are still reading this same newspaper 80 yrs later
https://m.imgur.com/a/d9NpdM5
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37964857) |
Date: March 21st, 2019 9:01 PM Author: Mahogany low-t preventive strike
The replica houses outside are more interesting than the museum.
Hoover was one of our most accomplished presidents but also objectively shitty at the job.
Did you have lunch in West Branch?
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37968857) |
Date: March 22nd, 2019 12:18 AM Author: Cordovan appetizing parlor
All right, Hoover's museum was great, and they have his entire childhood neighborhood preserved, but we only have a couple days to get back to D.C. for work, and a long way to drive, so we need to keep moving down the highway.
Our next stop is a very historically important location: The Iowa 80 truck stop, just outside Davenport. It claims to be the largest truck stop in the entire world.
https://imgur.com/a/l0G1hap
Any longtime XO poster, of course, will know just why Iowa 80 is so important: As the largest truck stop in the world, it's also a critical location in Doobs' truck stop prostitution empire. Peterman may win out in sheer depravity, but Doobs is a man of volume. He exists to provide a service, and that service is ensuring every trucker in the Midwest has the release he needs to keep running the rigs between Pennsylvania and the Great Plains. In a publicity stunt during the 2014 Christmas trucking season, Doobs managed to service a record-setting 617 truckers in an unbroken 24-hour stretch at this location.
Outside the truck stop, dozens if not hundreds of trucks are amassed.
https://imgur.com/a/ibHAZr5
Inside the stop, very large signs point to the restrooms. They know what the typical trucker is here for:
https://imgur.com/a/rg1L119
The actual restrooms are going through a costly renovation right now; intended to give them a rougher edge that will allow for greater competition in Peterman's depravity niche.
https://imgur.com/a/9cTPuoZ
There's plenty more to see in the truck stop though. It's as large as a small shopping mall, with a big food court filled with Middle American fats. There's even an Orange Julius if that's your thing.
https://imgur.com/a/Mdgm9jf
https://imgur.com/a/yOzKCoG
The second floor has some amenities for truck drivers. Not just showers, but also a theater, dentist, and even a chiropractor.
https://imgur.com/a/xQS2phT
The tourist trap kitsch fittingly includes tons of Red State America stuff, like military pins, flag t-shirts, and of course a model tank made out of expended rifle rounds.
https://imgur.com/a/fKqohaA
Besides the restrooms, the real heart of the truck stop is the trucker store, a massive floor space filled with everything a trucker could want, from audio books and custom steering wheels to seat pads and exhaust pipes.
https://imgur.com/a/gIefO12
https://imgur.com/a/fbnj4fR
https://imgur.com/a/H3KXG5U
At the far end is a small "show floor" for nifty trucks.
https://imgur.com/a/kHepdBX
Next door, a giant building houses a free museum of trucking, but sadly we don't have time to visit it. If you want the all-inclusive trip, go check out the nearest Bobby Digital thread. The Charles Digital experience requires greater celerity.
It's about 1 pm, and we need to make it all the way to Dayton, Ohio tonight. That means we don't have time for any big tourist attractions, and fortunately there really aren't many. Instead, we'll be making a few short stops to check out novelty statues.
The first stop is right in nearby Davenport. In the 1850s, railroad companies wanted to build rail bridges across the Mississippi, but were opposed by ferry companies that feared going out of business. This resulted in a major legal battle, and one railroad brought in the top BIGRAILROAD attorney in the United States, a certain Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln won his case, and to this day railroads run across the Mississippi with impunity. A statue right by the old rail bridge shows Lincoln looking at the under-construction bridge, thinking of cutting legal arguments.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwillpO275ThAhUoU98KHQEyAxEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wvik.org%2Fpost%2Fabraham-lincoln-statue-unveiled-davenport&psig=AOvVaw3QEBdLWlyzAaFocBD7VxGB&ust=1553313918046880
The next stop is in Galesburg, Illinois, which has one of Ronald Reagan's numerous boyhood homes (he moved a lot). The house is still privately owned, so you can't go in, but it does have a plaque outside. Reagan learned to read while in this house.
https://imgur.com/a/HALARkX
A church a couple blocks away has a hard-hitting message for the faithful.
https://imgur.com/a/aGXk2UF
Our next stop is in the city of Peoria. It was once of great concern that ideas, products, and shows be able to "play" here. Today, it's another over-the-hill Midwestern city, and just last year it endured the loss of Caterpillar Inc's HQ to the Chicago suburb of Deerfield. The company still has 12,000 employees here, though, and a sexy museum on the riverfront.
https://imgur.com/a/Ts4OlUT
That's not what we're here to see, though. We're here to see this goofy 30-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address to a 20th century "common man." Said common man strongly resembles popular 50s singer Perry Como, who has no connection to Peoria or central Illinois.
https://imgur.com/a/MpV8VIG
Richard Pryor actually is from Peoria, but his statue is comparatively less impressive, and has a kinda-obnoxious plug for the sculptor on the base.
https://imgur.com/a/MrgWkzj
Let's keep trucking down I-74. In Bloomington, there's a statue of Lincoln that is supposed to represent him plotting a future with two of his friends, Bloomington residents Jesse Fell and David Davis. At a glance, though, it looks more like Lincoln is breaking up a fight.
https://imgur.com/a/BTm79WK
The statue has a handful of quotes from speeches Lincoln gave in Bloomington. Since the statue is pretty recent, naturally some lib added a Lincoln quote that seems to troll for wind power.
https://imgur.com/a/AulNVNJ
The final pit stop in Illinois is in Urbana, home of the University of Illinois's flagship campus. Like pretty much every major college, UIUC is obsessed with getting more women in STEM, and their idea for accomplishing that was to put up a goofy statue of a Woman Scientist Superhero.
https://imgur.com/a/htdPB6q
Names "The Quintessential Engineer," this statue shows a woman running, wearing adventuresome trousers, using some sci-fi touchscreen thing, and standing atop proud Engineering Virtues like "Confident" and "Successful."
https://imgur.com/a/rQJjHCB
The statue was paid for by the world's least-innovative tech company, Texas Instruments.
https://imgur.com/a/hMGigGv
And with that, we're done with the state of Illinois. Fun times!
There is nothing to see in Indiana.
After a four-hour drive, then, we arrive in Dayton, Ohio. We'll have more to do tomorrow, but for tonight, our goal is to try Dayton's chief culinary artifact, Dayton-style pizza. It's sold at basically only one place, the local chain Marion's Piazza. Lots of locals will say to skip it, but what's the point of traveling if we're just going to do the same shit we can do anywhere?
The restaurant itself is painted to look like you are in some scenic Italian villa rather than Ohio.
https://imgur.com/a/ZA9YebH
When you order the pizza at Marion's, be sure to ask to use the "old oven." It takes slightly longer, but it comes out a lot better. Dayton-style pizza is basically a pizza with tiny square slices and a thin, cracker-like crust. It's basically like a really high-quality frozen pizza.
https://imgur.com/a/8ZG4QeP
A server plays air guitar with a pizza peel.
https://imgur.com/a/0HaJth0
All right, time to crash. Tomorrow we visit Dayton's chief claim to fame: The mammoth Museum of the United States Air Force.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37969687) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2019 11:59 AM Author: Chocolate Abode
Bboom in the red T-shirt. MODS!
https://imgur.com/a/Mdgm9jf
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37971278)
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Date: March 22nd, 2019 8:30 AM Author: stimulating field
The Lincoln statue in Peoria (https://imgur.com/a/MpV8VIG) used to be in a different location: https://imgur.com/a/hmTKObE
Wonder why they moved it.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970359) |
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Date: March 22nd, 2019 8:34 AM Author: razzmatazz maize athletic conference
https://www.pjstar.com/news/20170913/giant-abraham-lincoln-sculpture-coming-to-peoria-riverfront-museum
The Peoria Riverfront Museum is preparing for the installation next week of “Return Visit,” a 31-foot-tall, 19-ton painted bronze sculpture of Lincoln standing with a modern-day man who is holding the Gettysburg Address.
The sculpture has been on display in Chicago for the past year next to Tribune Tower, and through some serendipitous timing, museum officials were able to secure its next stop here just as bicentennial celebrations are beginning.
A local resident had mentioned the sculptor, Seward Johnson, to PRM President and CEO John Morris, and the museum chief asked one of the curators to reach out to Johnson’s foundation.
Johnson’s other work includes sculptures of Marilyn Monroe and of a couple standing with a pitchfork in homage to the famous Grant Wood painting. Both were displayed in Chicago during the last decade.
During the course of the curator’s conversation with the foundation, it came up that the Lincoln piece was wrapping up its run in Chicago and needed a new home.
“We took advantage of an opportunity,” Morris says, marveling at how the timing worked out.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970368)
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Date: March 23rd, 2019 12:45 AM Author: Cordovan appetizing parlor
All right, today we get to see the chief attraction on our road trip: The National Museum of the United States Air Force, located on the grounds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Dayton houses this museum because it’s the sadly-forgotten birthplace of modern aviation. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina is instantly famous as the location of the first powered flight, and North Carolina ever puts “First in Flight” on its license plate and state quarter. But Daytonians will inform you that this is RANCID FLAME. The Wright Brothers hated North Carolina, were only there because of the favorable winds, and got the fuck out of there as soon as they could. The ACTUAL birthplace of aviation is right here in Dayton, where the Wright Brothers operated their bike shop and experimented with heavier-than-air craft as an autistic hobby.
The actual museum is accessed from, not flame, a road named Bong Street. It’s gigantic, spanning five immense hangers.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Aerial_view_of_the_National_Museum_of_the_U.S._Air_Force_4.jpg/1920px-Aerial_view_of_the_National_Museum_of_the_U.S._Air_Force_4.jpg
The hangers are arranged by topic, with wings covering different topics in generally chronological order. The coolest wing, of course, is the World War 2 one, so let’s start there.
Right when you walk in, you encounter perhaps the single most famous plane in the museum: Bock’s Car, the bomber that ended World War 2 by dropping Fat Man on Nagasaki.
https://imgur.com/a/3Dgy5NS
https://imgur.com/a/oWyg9w1
A case next to the plane has some items from the Nagasaki mission.
https://imgur.com/a/xuUz8Oz
This model Fat Man isn’t simply a mock-up, it’s an actual decommissioned nuclear shell painted in imitation of the Nagasaki bomb.
https://imgur.com/a/rRvV7cB
These scraps of a wrecked plane are from The Flying Dutchman, a troop transport that crashed in New Guinea. A handful of uninjured troops were able to make it back to civilization, but the wounded men left behind died before rescue parties found them. Their daily diary was preserved on a piece of the airframe.
https://imgur.com/a/JWNmWZt
https://imgur.com/a/bgLiQOR
Another case holds the fragments from the final kamikaze attack of World War 2.
https://imgur.com/a/NQcupJQ
Fortunately, not EVERY Japanese plane was used in a suicide attack. This Kawanishi N1K-J, nicknamed “George,” was one of the best Japanese fighters of the war, substantially outclassing the more famous Zero.
https://imgur.com/a/IULxRPa
An exhibit honors the achievements of the Brazilian air force in World War 2, and their “Fab” aircrews.
https://imgur.com/a/yryq9It
The display for Luftwaffe officers has a humorously severe-looking Nazi stereotype.
https://imgur.com/a/iAmZcZP
China was a crucial front in the Pacific War, and the allies made heavy use of its airfields. But China at the time had no heavy equipment, so instead runways were paved by having hundreds of manual laborers drag these 10,000 pounds stones around.
https://imgur.com/a/fj9dRsU
This primitive air-to-air rocket was developed by the Germans. Even in flight, it was attached to the firing plane by thin wires, and controlled with a joystick. It had an acoustic proximity fused, designed to detonate as it approached the sound of a B-17’s engines. The missile didn’t see active service, but I’d guess it’s shown up in at least one WW2 video game regardless.
https://imgur.com/a/6ue0qrR
There are several other German wunderwaffe’s on display. The Me 262A was the first jet-powered fighter aircraft to see action. It dominated allied planes in the final stages of the war, but was too little, too late to turn the tide.
https://imgur.com/a/t0DJnWn
The museum also has an Me 163 Komet, which looks like some kind of toy airplane enlarged to life-size:
https://imgur.com/a/j4eDnri
The Komet is the only rocket-powered fighter jet ever used in combat. It was incredibly fast (breaking 700 mph on one test flight), but had a short range and was extremely dangerous to operate. The descriptive plaque touches on the difficulties it faced.
https://imgur.com/a/KqdcKLQ
Lastly, there’s an authentic V-2 rocket, the world’s first long-range ballistic missile.
https://imgur.com/a/YyTSeHj
This next German plane wasn’t a wonder weapon, but it was the most iconic German fighter of the war. The Me 109 scored more aerial victories in WW2 than any other fighter, and served for the entirety of the war in every front of the European theater.
https://imgur.com/a/jCEK5xS
And let us not forget the contribution of the ITALIAN air force. This plane…was an Italian fighter. Not much more to be said.
https://imgur.com/a/etpCUqM
This wax scene of Allied troops conquering Germany interestingly includes several authentic trashed Nazi objects in the rubble.
https://imgur.com/a/GjYANDP
https://imgur.com/a/dOkusLk
The museum displays an honor roll created by an Allied air unit to commemorate its aces, but prudes at the museum have censored it to cover up the naked women. Sad!
https://imgur.com/a/WDl8yJP
The museum may not tolerate nudity, but it is perfectly tolerant of PG-13 language on allied bombers.
https://imgur.com/a/H39Z3tS
This display on America’s main air-dropped torpedo can’t avoid the fact that it was a monumental piece of shit.
https://imgur.com/a/uPAJx6e
Today, Hollywood actors shun national service, but World War 2 was a different time and many stars were eager to serve despite the dangers. Jimmy Stewart wore this jacket during many dangerous bombing runs over Europe.
https://imgur.com/a/KPw27I9
Ronald Reagan’s poor eyesight kept him out of combat service, but he did wear this jacket while helping to make training films.
https://imgur.com/a/7WzLlVu
Walt Disney was deeply invested in the war effort too. Besides producing educational and propaganda films, Disney animators also produced tons of patches and designs for air units to use.
https://imgur.com/a/JsRV4BI
https://imgur.com/a/YIPI3bk
One set of seven bombers even had themselves decorated on a Seven Dwarves theme!
https://imgur.com/a/EdBWAxt
Along with Bock’s Car, the other famous bomber in the museum is the Memphis Belle.
https://imgur.com/a/aomuVpd
https://imgur.com/a/JlAjGrp
Bombing raids over Europe were extremely dangerous in the early stages of the war. Until the introduction of long-range fighters like the P-51 Mustang, raids were made without fighter escorts, and losses could exceed 25% on a single raid. To boost morale, crews were told that if they completed 25 missions, they’d be rotated out of combat service. The Memphis Belle was one of the first bombers to complete a 25-mission rotation, so it was brought back to America for a high-profile war bonds tour that made both the craft and crew famous.
The Memphis Belle was named after the pilot’s fiancée, Margaret Polk, but she dumped him after it turned out that he was using his fame to smash tons of pussy (he eventually married six times!).
https://imgur.com/a/UMuwhEo
The Museum’s exhibits on famous bombers continues with its shrine to the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo in early 1942. As the first force to strike at the Japanese home islands, the Doolittle men were national heroes. In 1959, the city of Tucson honored them by creating a silver goblet for every member of the raid. Those goblets are on display here.
https://imgur.com/a/z9lqwVv
At reunions, the survivors of the raid would do toasts with these goblets. When on display, a goblet was turned up for every living member of the raid, and placed upside down for those who had died. Today, only one goblet remains standing: Richard Cole, still going at 103 years old.
A plaque notes the many, many fuck-ups made by Tucson in making the goblets.
https://imgur.com/a/HinRFVh
The Doolittle raiders were heroes to the Chinese (who helped many of them escape capture by the Japanese after ditching over the Chinese mainland). Pieces of Chinese artwork celebrate them.
https://imgur.com/a/DePCgQg
https://imgur.com/a/YeGdJZK
This headband was recovered from a Japanese pilot shot down attacking Pearl Harbor.
https://imgur.com/a/8EMH8LM
Holy shit! That was only ONE hangar of this museum. Damn, this place is massive.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37975644)
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Date: March 23rd, 2019 2:29 PM Author: Cordovan appetizing parlor
The World War 2 hangar was awesome, but there’s still a ton of museum to see. Our next stop is the smallest hangar, dedicated to early aviation. Along the way, we pass a small Holocaust museum, which this place has for some reason.
https://imgur.com/a/P5qAAZ5
There’s a shitty Dachau map sketched by a man held there.
https://imgur.com/a/5Atlv34
Unsurprisingly, the chief assets of the early aviation wing are artifacts related to the Wright Brothers. The brothers were aviation pioneers because of their practical work testing airframes using a homemade wind tunnel. One of their wind tunnels is intact and on display.
https://imgur.com/a/Yv40BYh
There’s also an authentic 1895 Wright bicycle.
https://imgur.com/a/gKzBrTG
The big Model A military flyer on display, though, is only a replica.
https://imgur.com/a/pHLuvCx
A recreation of a WW1-era airfield has some preposterous English fellows sitting around sipping tea and shit.
https://imgur.com/a/s4evyys
The Wrights were big underdogs in the race to develop the first working airplane. They were nobodies from Are Country. The smart money was on a guy named Samuel Pierpont Langley, Boston Brahmin and recipient of $50,000 in Congressional funding. Langley burned through the money, though, and retired in frustration just days before the Wright’s successful flight. Despite this, he still had the first US aircraft carrier named after him.
https://imgur.com/a/kj0wH3S
Quentin Roosevelt, the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was killed as a pilot in WW1. A cross erected over his grave by German soldiers is on display.
https://imgur.com/a/YfIVwH6
The U.S. squadron emblems of WW1 are really fucking not okay by today’s standards.
https://imgur.com/a/9pDxsiw
This carrier pigeon won a medal for delivering a medal despite having a leg shot off. Now, its stuffed corpse remains on display.
https://imgur.com/a/eqZHKel
In the rafters above, an observation blimp is targeted by a German plane. That balloon is totally fucked.
https://imgur.com/a/dXev6Co
An early autogyro is on display. The rotor above isn’t powered, but instead rotates from air flowing over it. This set-up can allow a plane to fly even at very low speeds.
https://imgur.com/a/plMMEQr
Now, it’s time to move on to the post-WW2 hangars. One of the first sights is a gigantic B-52 Stratofortress. Its first flight was in 1952, but to this day it remains in service as a strategic and nuclear bomber.
https://imgur.com/a/Vuo2wIu
There’s also an F-22 Raptor, America’s current air-superiority fighter.
https://imgur.com/a/jSRhkdx
The days of these manned aircraft are numbered, though, as more and more roles are taken by unmanned drones. They’ve gotten enormous lately:
https://imgur.com/a/R56Yq9T
As you walk in to the Cold War part of the museum, a large world map indicates which countries were part of the Western and Easter blocs.
https://imgur.com/a/XRNBYuz
Wait…something is a bit funny about that map.
https://imgur.com/a/lWgksGI
Holy shit! Something IS funny. They’ve tinkered with the map in the vicinity of Israel.
https://imgur.com/a/Py0fDSj
They’ve added blue tape to represent Israel as an American ally. Funny! Btw, in 1960, Israel really wasn’t an American ally. The U.S. stayed neutral on Arab-Israeli matters in an attempt to win Nasser’s Egypt as an ally. Some googling indicates that the original map mistakenly showed Israel as a Soviet ally, though. Somebody must have been really MAF about that!
In the Korean War wing there is a MiG-15bis, obtained from a North Korean pilot who was paid $100,000 for defecting just days before the armistice. This advanced fighter was codenamed “Faggot” by NATO forces (not flame!).
https://imgur.com/a/rBCYJrx
In the Korean War, “Dream Girls” were housewife-looking women taking their clothes off for you. It was the 50s.
https://imgur.com/a/jZZx1Q7
Nothing in the rules says a dog can’t be a paratrooper:
https://imgur.com/a/GFUCo6n
The B-2 stealth bomber is somewhat hard to photograph. It’s just a big flying wedge thing.
https://imgur.com/a/HOIO0Pj
Slightly easier is the F-117 Nighthawk, in all its ugly, not-terribly-effective-at-combat glory.
https://imgur.com/a/XaUBF2v
Far more effective is the A-10 Thunderbolt, which despite 47 years and several attempts to replace it remains the military’s preferred close air support craft.
https://imgur.com/a/YzZ0Don
In case you haven’t been to the Smithsonian hangar out by Dulles, this museum ALSO has an SR-71 Blackbird, to this day the fastest manned jet ever flown.
https://imgur.com/a/XyUYrMS
The Blackbird was preceded by the U-2 spy plane, which hangs in the rafters above. This jet was linked to two major Cold War incidents, the first when it was shot down over the Soviet Union and the second when it discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.
https://imgur.com/a/k45PPz8
This suit of armor was the mascot of an Air Force squadron, and for years was abducted by rival squadrons who took him to places as far-flung as Greenland and South Vietnam. Today, he is retired to the museum, and it would now be a court marshal offense to steal him.
https://imgur.com/a/PlAD2jk
This F-106 fighter on display is unexceptional but for one fact: It managed to successfully land on its own AFTER the pilot ejected.
https://imgur.com/a/JD299OS
https://imgur.com/a/TFsXqOl
This weird-looking craft is the fittingly-named F-104 Starfighter.
https://imgur.com/a/w9uwUz9
The Starfighter set numerous speed records, earning the nickname “missile with a man in it,” but its safety record was atrocious with more than a hundred pilots dying in accidents attempting to fly it. Lockheed bribed numerous officials to get it adopted anyway, causing a massive scandal.
The Starfighter was also involved in a famous air disaster, where Lockheed has all their advanced Air Force jets fly in close formation for a photo op. Wake turbulence caused the Starfighter to lurch into the experimental XB-70 supersonic bomber, destroying both. It was all caught on video, though only still images have surfaced for the public it seems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCORwUxlNQo
The last surviving XB-70 bomber is also in the museum:
https://media.defense.gov/2016/May/19/2001541896/780/780/0/160519-F-IO108-002.JPG
Along with the random Holocaust exhibit, the museum also has a random chunk of the Berlin Wall (the Hoover Museum had one too…does EVERY museum have a Berlin Wall piece?). The guy on top of the wall looks kinda silly.
https://imgur.com/a/hb7Je5P
This jet flew in Desert Storm and logged something (Kills? Missions?) in “camels.” NOT okay, Air Force plz censor or provide trigger warnings.
https://imgur.com/a/eGqXZva
https://imgur.com/a/BzvtJl4
The AC-130 is famous for those Call of Duty Modern Warfare missions where you blast Russians to smithereens from the sky.
https://imgur.com/a/M659ltO
Amid all the planes is another odd interloper: A customized Dodge Challenger, dubbed the “Vapor Special Operations Supercar.” A friend of yours is more blunt: It’s a bullshit James Bond-style thing intended to boost Air Force recruiting.
https://imgur.com/a/3CjNlK2
As you move on to the final hangar, you pass through a room holding several decommissioned ballistic missiles.
https://imgur.com/a/kT64DWD
An exhibit shows the soldiers tasked with firing off the missiles should the president order them. Since it’s now 2019, both soldiers are women.
https://imgur.com/a/R8hTuPg
The Starfighter may have been nickname “missile with a man in it,” but the X-15 is a literal manned missile.
https://imgur.com/a/ad6efKH
Dropped in mid-air by a B-52, the X-15 was the first aircraft to exceed 5 times the speed of sound, and flew so high that pilots could be awarded astronaut wings. In the early days of the space race, it was used to test the stresses astronauts would have to endure; one early pilot was Neil Armstrong himself.
Speaking of actual astronauts, the Apollo 15 command module is here, on loan from the Smithsonian.
https://imgur.com/a/rZJnzm0
This cartoonish craft, the XF-85 Goblin, was another experiment in air-launched fighters. It was designed to attach to the underbelly of a large bomber, and detach if needed to engage enemy interceptors. Deprived even of landing gear, it would have to reattach to its bombers to successfully land. It was never used in combat.
https://imgur.com/a/GRo3XV1
https://imgur.com/a/KHfYMv1
This craft here is a literal flying saucer.
https://imgur.com/a/KXIghky
The final part of the museum is dedicated to numerous presidential planes. The first one is the Sacred Cow, which carried FDR to the Yalta Conference. It has an elevator to accommodate FDR’s wheelchair.
https://imgur.com/a/fzwA7DS
https://imgur.com/a/J3I1K0X
The Independence, naturally, carried President Truman, while the Columbine was used by Dwight Eisenhower.
https://imgur.com/a/gKBvt9q
https://imgur.com/a/o13PHjQ
In the mid-50’s, the “Air Force One” call sign was adopted for any plane carrying the president. During JFK’s administration, the current iconic design of presidential planes was adopted, supposedly the work of Jackie Kennedy. Several small presidential jets are on display:
https://imgur.com/a/fUs7NG5
https://imgur.com/a/Y5rHpCR
The most famous presidential plane of all, though, is the SAM 26000, a modified 707 that was the president’s primary transport from 1962 to 1972. It carried JFK to Dallas in 1963, and LBJ’s famous oath of office photo took place aboard it.
https://imgur.com/a/MkZaOLV
The plane’s interior is kept as it was when in service.
https://imgur.com/a/jWWAHe6
A plaque marks the otherwise nondescript spot where the oath occurred.
https://imgur.com/a/ifcM4Vx
And that’s everything! Whew, you ended up spending about 4 hours here, and you didn’t even get a close look at everything. But you really need to be hitting the road if you want to get back home by Monday morning, so let’s keep moving.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37977421)
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Date: April 20th, 2019 12:12 AM Author: Cordovan appetizing parlor
Sorry for the prolonged delay. Computer caught fire. But before we can go off to Hungary, we'd better wrap up this trip! We still have a tiny handful of things to see before making it to DC.
At our last update we'd just finished going through Dayton's mammoth Air Force museum. As you leave, you see a park filled with small monuments to various air units.
https://i.imgur.com/UGt76xy.jpg
Before hitting the highway, you detour back to downtown Dayton. There, you can see the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop where they built their first plane...or, you could, except Henry Ford picked up the whole damn building and moved it to Dearborn, Michigan. Too bad! Instead, you can see a restoration of a different shop. The Wright Bros. worked out of this building until the late 1890s, but they only made bikes here.
https://i.imgur.com/ATErQfq.jpg
NOW you can hit the road. We could take a straight shot to DC, but instead we're going to detour to see some presidential birthplaces near Columbus.
In the small town of Delaware, you can see the birthplace of Rutherford Hayes. Sadly, Hayes' home has not survived! It's now a gas station with a plaque outside.
https://i.imgur.com/cDLawu2.jpg
We have a far more impressive destination just a few miles further, though. Marion, Ohio is a dying post-industrial city, formerly the popcorn capital of America. Warren Harding ran a newspaper here before becoming a senator and, eventually, a forgettable president known for his deeply corrupt Cabinet. Marion didn't mind too much, though, and they built a very nice neoclassical tomb for him.
https://i.imgur.com/AI6TW22.jpg
Harding requested a simple tomb beneath a tree and the open sky, and the design of the tomb accommodates this.
https://i.imgur.com/uPp8JRR.jpg
Nearby, a small display describes Harding's presidency, noting he achieved many of his goals. Albert Fall, listed on his Cabinet roster, is the Teapot Dome guy.
https://i.imgur.com/COB3j1e.jpg
Another display makes a mild effort to improve Harding's relatively shitty reputation.
https://i.imgur.com/KIDFfra.jpg
A couple miles away, Marion has preserved Harding's house. Harding ran the last "front-porch campaign" in US history here, staying home and delivering speeches to visitors but otherwise not traveling prior to his election.
https://i.imgur.com/yHY5rUB.jpg
Before leaving town, how about a snack? Let's stop at Fred's, Marion's top drive-through ice cream joint.
https://i.imgur.com/oCoSXpf.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UOIXoyQ.jpg
Fuck yeah! But now it's evening. You truck along the highway until Pittsburgh, and sleep at a rest stop. The following morning, you head into DC, but you make one last stop along the way...
https://i.imgur.com/CwWAxQI.jpg
That's right, it's Breezewood, Pennsylvania! It's one of the only places in the US where the Interstate Highway System turns into a normal stretch of road, without controlled access through on-ramps. The town of Breezewood is entirely kept alive by the snarl of travelers who pass through and end up stopping for gas or food.
But that's not why you're here. You're here because THIS is where the legendary Treaty of Breezewood was signed. For years, it was feared the competition between Doobs and Peterman would devastate the entire trucking economy. In an astute show of statesmanship, though, the two kings of truck stop prostitution were able to settle their differences and establish spheres of influence. Peterman controls the coastal highways east of Breezewood, while Doobs has the Midwestern ones out to Iowa, including the famous I-80 stop.
You stop at the specific Sunoco where the treaty was signed.
https://i.imgur.com/HXYhQUH.jpg
Peterman and Doobs each left their "mark" on the treaty document: The former farted cum onto it, while Doobs belched it instead. Sadly, the treaty itself is now held by a private collector.
And that's it! You drive the car into DC and go back to being your own brand of cumslave, for global capitalism.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#38114153) |
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