The Intrepid
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, New York City
(be sure to mark your calendars: Intrepid opens April 1st)
Cruising down the West Side Highway, your eyes are glued left and right, mesmerized at the tall buildings, the new Trump apartments, the beautiful river on the right. This is New York City. What are we going to do? Where are we going to park??
When you think of things to do in what is lovingly referred to as ‘The Big Apple’ – especially, when looking for a place to take the kids – many things come to mind. One terrific attraction that you might not immediately think of is the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum located on Pier 86, at 12th Avenue and W 86th Street. Getting there is easy. Go to www.intrepidmuseoum.org for additional details and directions. Note also that the museum is officially open only from April through September (though there are activities scheduled, primarily for children, during the winter months as well).
The museum is centered on the USS Intrepid, a well-maintained, spit-and-polish, retired WWII aircraft carrier where most of the more popular exhibits are. Most interesting for me was seeing how the sailors lived: their bunks, their mess halls and kitchens. On the flight deck, which appears small by today’s standards, a wide variety of military aircraft are parked, including helicopters and a low-slung, black stealth bomber.
Since the museum opened in 1982, many exhibits have been added. There are now interactive displays, an education center, historical re-creations; a cockpit simulator, Virtual Flight Zone (VFZ), and a well stocked book and souvenir shop. For me, the thrill was walking on the decks and imagining how it might have been in the heat of battle, with planes taking off and landing; taking on enemy fire; young men working precisely and closely together like a single well-oiled machine, risking all to defend the homeland on the high seas.
Now, back from her stint on the roiling Pacific, she is resting peacefully in the Hudson River, under benevolent east coast skies, along a pier built just for her – in Manhattan, no less. Visitors from all over the world come to adore her – a proud survivor; a living legend. Old warriors come to reminisce. Some bring their great-grandchildren and tell them stories of the World War – the last to stain our history (ironically with victory) – the same way my own grandfather used to, speaking from the perspective of the losing side.
The Intrepid Museum complex also features the European-built Concorde, which was the fastest passenger plane in the world. Only Air France and British Airways used them for passenger service. Only 20 of them were ever built; 14 saw service with the airlines. They flew from 1976 through 2003, crossing the Atlantic in nearly half the time it took regular carriers.
Unfortunately the venture was never profitable. Despite the hefty premium passengers were asked to pay, it did not make up for the plane’s limited seating capacity (roughly 100) and the amount of fuel that the plane’s Mach 2.02 average cruising speed required.
The only crash of this type of aircraft in France on July of 2000 proved to be the death knell for this aviation icon. Walking through the British Airways model, currently on display at the museum, one gets a sense of how cramped the interior was. Nevertheless, the food was said to have been excellent; and being able to cut the time it took to make the transatlantic crossing by half, was surely priceless to some.
The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum also features a submarine, the USS Growler, where a walk-thru is also possible. I had done it previously and it was very intense to see how the sailors on such subs lived and worked in such impossibly close quarters – sometimes months at a time. There’s always a waiting line for people wanting to see the inside. Naturally, space limitations on board preclude everybody from going at once. That particular day, we just happened to run out of time – which just goes to show that it’s best to get there early.
Peter Koelliker; pkoelliker8@yahoo.com
Intrepid Museum photo attachment# 1:
1. Aircraft Carrier
2. Airplane Art
3. Camouflage
4. Chameleon
5. Coast Guard
6. Sea Cobra
Intrepid Museum photo attachment# 2:
1. Concorde
2. Cruise Missile
3. Intrepid Museum
4. Scorecard
5. Ship’s Mess
6. USS Growler
