Museum Day

The other day I was bitten by the museum bug and went to two in one day:  the Yankee Air Museum in Belleville near here and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.  I'd heard from locals that the Henry Ford was a must see, and they were right.  My only disappointment was the car section was being re-done, so most of them were out of view.  I did get to see a few, like a '56 Chevy convertible and a '55 Thunderbird, which brought back some fine memories.  But honestly, this old McDonald's sign almost made my mouth water!  I don't know its' date, but with only 160 million sold, it had to be in the early days of the franchise. 

Almost immediately upon entering there was a line of limos on the my right that caught my eye.  There were all of the old presidential Lincolns that had been retired and they were awesome.  Among the first was the one Kennedy was killed in. Looking at it made me feel like the event had just happened instead of it being so many years ago.  The car is still here while all the people who rode in it are gone, I think.  The day he died is still one of the saddest days I've ever known. 

There were a lot of things there having to do with Thomas Edison, as he and Henry were good buddies.  There were old generators, among the first, as well as the first light bulbs and other examples of his inventions.  There was a fine portrait of a gathering of 264 leaders in science, literature, government and other fields to celebrate Edison and the 50th anniversary of the invention of the mass produced light bulb.  I stared at it for a long time, but didn't get a good photo of it.  Then there was the Wiener Mobile!  It was the first of its' kind in marketing!

There was an entire section about our nation's road to freedom and it was humbling and inspiring.  It began with pre-revolution events and came up to the present.  There was an excellent video about the pamphlet "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine and what it did to foster the idea of independence from England.  Then there was the rocking chair President Lincoln sat in when he was shot at the theater.  The bus Rosa Parks rode in was also there, completely restored to like-brand-new condition.  Then there were the telephones.  All of them.  From the first until now.  Wow.

There was a lot more there that I didn't show or report on, like the pistols, rifles, wood stoves, furniture, the Civil War, and so much more.  It's an excellent place and I hope to return there sometime, perhaps with my grand kids in tow.  Now that would be an adventure! 

But on this day, there was also the Yankee Air Museum.  Located at Willow Run Airport, it was built by Ford Motor Company in 1941 to build B-17's for WW II.  It was the first aircraft production facility to use Ford's mass production methods.  Between 1942 and the end of WW II, they produced 8,685 bombers, or one every 59 minutes!!!  This is one of the reasons we won the war.  Our ability to mass produce weapons was far superior to our enemy's.  No doubt about it!  Ironically, they don't have a B-17 there, as they are very hard to procure.  However, they do have this F-84, along with many other fine aircraft that I invite you to see. They also offer rides in B-17's and B-25's, and that is an offer that's hard to refuse!