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Open-Cockpit Sunday October 9th At Patriots Point
Waring Hills Sep 28, 2011At 1026 on Thursday, 04 June 1942, Navy Lieutenant Dick Best locked his pilot’s eyes on the image of a sun circle on a Japanese aircraft carrier’s flight deck, located fifteen thousand feet beneath him in the Pacific Ocean. As he rolled his Dauntless dive bomber into a steep descent, his vision remained focused on the target as he trimmed his aircraft to compensate for wind drift. His body experienced the familiar acceleration of a rapid, steep dive in a sequence of events that he had practiced over and over. Dick’s focus could not be broken on this morning by the anti-aircraft fire, the incredible plunge towards earth or fear of death. He knew the lives of thousands of American sailors and the fate of the battle for Midway depended upon his skill and courage. After forty seconds the sun circle beckoned to him, Dick reached out his left hand to pull the manual bomb release. His one thousand pound bomb plunged downwards and after sixteen hundred feet of descent hit the Japanese Imperial Navy’s aircraft carrier Akagi in the middle of her flight deck. Defeat had come to Japan.
Watch SBD’s dive in formation
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be involved in something greater than one’s self? Have you ever wanted to climb into a Navy cockpit and imagine being a Naval Aviator and flying at Top Gun? Sunday, 09 October, is your chance to fulfill a dream! Patriots Point will be opening multiple Navy/Marine Corps aircraft cockpits to the public for viewing and entrance. Bring your children, family and friends to re-imagine the greatest generation as they fought in the Pacific. Sit in various cockpits (jets, props, helicopters) and you can imagine flying in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan…
Aircraft that are being opened to the public include the SBD Dauntless, F-9 Cougar, H-1 Huey, S-3 Viking, H-3 Sea King and the A-6 Intruder. Cockpits will be open from 10 AM till 4 PM on Sunday, 09 October. Normal museum admission will be charged for the day.
Below is a sneak peek at our SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas) Dauntless cockpit, come on out and just imagine being a pilot for a day…take home memories of greatness and a new appreciation for our freedom…
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Great idea! Finally the old fuddy duddies (I am one also) are thinking out of the box. Keep up the great ideas and maybe there is a chance that you can bring this operation out of the red and into the black. Good luck!
This comment is not related to “open cockpit” but I thought I would include it here. You folks need to do something about the Clamagore. What a boring exhibit. I am a retired submariner. I noticed that people walk through the boat and do not even know what they are looking at. They are not able to appreciate what they are observing. You need to come up with some ideas to to bring some “life” to the old boat. People respond well to audio and visual clues. How about a 50 inch LCD screens in each compartment showing old clips of what was going on in these spaces. The display really needs to connect the people to the then and now so that they can get the feel and really appreciate what they are looking at.
I visited a sub in CA, and the self guided tour included a headset which played different clips depending on where you stood in the boat. They were optional ($5) but everyone I saw had them. I did too and I loved it. They also had automated lights to highlight specific sections of the boat.
thanks to the board members at patriots point for coming up with different ideas at patriots point and trying to bring the uss laffey back. I hope every thing works out for every one.
I think that Open Cockpit sunday is a great idea. My children are excited about coming to visit again and we all have something new to look forward too. Good Job!
I plan to be there on the 9th. I’ll bring some friends too.