CTWG: Wing Trip to Washington DC

The below article was provided by Capt Stephen M. Rocketto, Director of Aerospace Activities, CTWG.

Connecticut Wing Sponsors Trip to National Capitol Area
Fourteen Cadets and five CAP Officers representing six squadrons departed Connecticut on April 13th for a five day visit to the Washington area.

Before checking into their quarters at Bolling Air Force Base, the group stopped at the National Security Agency's Vigilance Park on the way down wand viewed US Air Force, Navy, and Army aircraft flown for the NSA on signal intelligence operations.

The second day was spent at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Annex at Dulles Airport exploring its vast collection of modern and classic aircraft.

The group split the third rainy and blustery day. In the morning, they visited the USMC Museum at Quantico , VA. and were briefed by docents on the Iwo Jima invasion and visited galleries housing exhibits from Marine history. They viewed the original flag raised over Mt. Suribachi, shivered in the cooled exhibit depicting "Frozen Chosin," and entered a Vietnam fire base through the vibrating hull of a Chinook helicopter.

In the afternoon, they traveled to the US Navy Aircraft Museum at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Lexington Park, Md, home to Navy experimental and developmental squadrons. Both a Boeing X-32 and a Lockheed-Martin F-35C were on exhibit along with a wide range of modern aircraft used by the test pilot school and development squadrons. A comprehensive indoor exhibit housed a collection of equipment an which complemented the aeronautical development work at Pax River.

On the fourth and last day, mercifully sunny and warm, the contingent went to the National Mall. They visited the National Archives and viewed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, spent a half day at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall and explored the Mall itself. Sites visited included the Museum of National History, the Vietnam and World War II Memorials, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, National Capital, and the Smithsonian Castle (where one found Jimmy Doolittle's goggles).

On the last day, the two vans separated. One headed for Arlington National Ceremony where they paid respects to those past warriors who have served our county and viewed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The other van headed for the Air Mobility Museum at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The museum is dedicated to military airlift. The strains of the WWII ballad, "Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer" echoed across the ramp and a wide display of transport aircraft glistened in the mid morning sun. A background was provided by Lockheed C-5s practicing landings and takeoffs.

The docents were extraordinary helpful and opened up some aircraft so we could examine the interiors. These included the rare Lockheed C-133 Cargomaster and a Douglas C-54 veteran of the Berlin Airlift. The Cadets then assumed the position of paratroopers in a Lockheed C-130E Hercules and Mr. William Maroon, a former C-130 navigator, talked them through an airborne parachute drop.