NYC Trip and USS Intrepid Museum

[John 3rd]

Good Day All.

Posted this on my AAR earlier and thought to follow through with some pictures;

Am home and have survived the GREAT TRIP TO NYC! Currently feel like I need a vacation after the vacation. Got home late but feel fairly decent this morning. Dan just sent over the turn a an hour or so ago so we'll look at doing a turn probably this evening.

What we did:
Tuesday Night Arrived about 10pm and went to Time Square and starting gorging on all the fantastic food in the City!

Wednesday Intrepid (Very COOL), Central Park and Zoo, Museum of Natural History and a fantastic meal for dinner at Isabellas. Met up with my Aunt Carolyn (only living member of my Father's side of the family) and truly enjoyed our time together.

Thursday Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Ground Zero, and we did a tour of movie scene locations (Trinity Church (National Treasure), NYC Public Library (The Day After Tomorrow), Grand Central Station (2012). etc... Used the Subway for the first time and that was a pretty fun experience.

Friday It was worse then a Burma Monsoon Rain! Went to NBC Studios, Shopped at Rockefeller Center and 5th Ave, met up with the Aunt and had a great dinner with the finale being watching Lion King on Broadway. That show ROCKED!

Saturday Travel Day with layover in Chicago.

Here is Admiral Cochran and Ensign Cochran about to board the CV:




The teenager just said "ENSIGN---REALLY??!! Couldn't I at least be a LT?"

[John 3rd]

The submarine Growler, next to Intrepid, REALLY showed me how small those vessels were. I don't get claustrophobic but this did push my limits some. Think the requirement for the 'Silent Service' is to be UNDER 6 Feet tall!

[John 3rd]

If you can believe it, this is a LEGO model of the Intrepid. It is HUGE and beautifully detailed:

[John 3rd]

Had to do some serious recon of the enemy weaponry. Here is a 5" gun:

[John 3rd]

Here are damned 40MM Guns that so drive us JFB crazy! Have to admit I thought the gun was a lot bigger then I imagined.

[John 3rd]

Cannot forget those dratted 20MM guns as well. Here I am trying to figure out better kamikaze methods to combat the lethality of the these guns at close range.

The picture does not show three people helping to lift me up after I got all the way down there!

[woods]

Hi John,

Thanks for the pics. Fantastic. After my visit to Normandy last year, I hope to visit NY maybe next year. Intrepid is a must visit - an Essex carrier! Take 6 hours to go thru that big boat!

[John 3rd]

Here is the whole Cochran Clan as we pose in front of Shuttle Enterprise. I am a space NUT and was trilled to see this ship just simply parked on the aft deck of the Intrepid. Her canopy is impressive and the fact that the orbiter fits with room to spare is a testament to the size of an Essex-Class Carrier:

[John 3rd]

Now HERE is a fine looking LADY!




Ooops. Don't know why she rotated but the wife has gone to beddy-bye and I shall leave it up to her to fix in the morning.

[John 3rd]

Lucky for us NYC provided excellent field rations during our time there. Nice 18" pie--with crazy teenager photo-bombing the shot--for only $8.00. YUM!

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: woods

Hi John,

Thanks for the pics. Fantastic. After my visit to Normandy last year, I hope to visit NY maybe next year. Intrepid is a must visit - an Essex carrier! Take 6 hours to go thru that big boat!

We only spent about 3 hours on her and hit maybe 50% of the ship. We had so much to do and so little time. Would love to go back and see what we missed.

SHOULD have shown John and I inside a Gemini Capsule in the hangar deck. Always knew those early space ships were small but WOW. TINY is the better word.

[Canoerebel]

Great photos, John! Good to see a family doing things together. And I didn't notice a single hand-held electronic device in the hands of your boys!

My family and I spent a day in NYC in 2004, on a camping trip that took us to New England. We loved all the towns and all the people. All the people loved my wife, who has a very strong southern accent.

Glad you're back safely.

[John 3rd]

Thanks Sir.

The boys were cut off from all forms of electronics for the duration of the trip. Chris didn't mind but the teenager had serious issues of withdrawal!

This was the first big trip for the family. I am hoping to convince Paula to set our sights on Charleston next spring so we can visit the CSS Hunley. Am a plankowner in that museum and would love to see the ship.

Course there is also always Chicamauga...

Could Post all sorts of other pictures but felt that we should keep it mostly to the Intrepid. Have to admit going through Growler was fascinating. TINY sub. Scary that it was bigger then the ones we used during the war. Pretty crazy living in that confined space. The Captain's cabin was no bigger then 8x6 Ft. Can you imagine?!! Intriped was much roomier but still cramped. I was appalled at how tiny the Bridge was. Talk about cramped.

Other thing that stood out was the Avenger sitting in the hangar was a BEAST! Huge plane when compared to the SBD.

[obvert]

Nice pics John! I visited a few years ago and had a great time too! I loved all of the various jets on the flight deck too, especially the Migs I'd never seen in person.

I sat on the Bofors thinking the same thing! This is a BIG gun system.

[ny59giants]

Saw the captured U-boat in Chicago decades ago when I was in USN. Is it still there?

Worked on many SSBN from '79 to '82 in their radio shacks. Space is still tight, but very spacious compared to WW2 subs.

[Trugrit]

Thanks for posting.

You have a nice family.

[John 3rd]

Thanks guys.

I loved the variety of aircraft though I was disappointed in the lack of WWII aircraft. They only had an Avenger. Wish they could have had an F4F, SBD, etc...

Does anyone know where any of the USN CV aircraft are located and can be seen? I have seen the SBD hanging in Chicago Midway but that is about it.

[Trugrit]

The USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC.

http://www.patriotspoint.org/explore/uss-yorktown/

http://www.patriotspoint.org/explore/aircraft/

[Chickenboy]

Thanks for posting the pics, John.

[ushakov]

ORIGINAL: John 3rd
Does anyone know where any of the USN CV aircraft are located and can be seen? I have seen the SBD hanging in Chicago Midway but that is about it.

Oddly enough, the single museum with the biggest variety of USN CV aircraft (so far as I know) is the UK's Fleet Air Arm Museum, located in a very rural area of southern England. They have a Hellcat, a Wildcat/Martlet, a Corsair, and an Avenger, plus a Seafire, a Fulmar, and a good variety of other UK aircraft (and an Oka, somehow!).