[Foxbat]

Living in NYC does have some drawbacks( insane rents, taxes, crime) but for me one of the biggest plus points for me is having this across the street:



Launched in 1943, the former aircraft carrier USS Intrepid fought in World War II, surviving five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike. The ship later served in the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Intrepid also served as a NASA recovery vessel in the 1960s. It was decommissioned in 1974, and today is berthed on the Hudson River as the centerpiece of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. About 30+ years ago my family lived about 1.5 hours drive from here and I had asked my dad to bring me here many times however the trip never materialised. Never imagined one day I could walk across the street to visit it

The museum has a deck and hanger full of interesting aircraft and a space Shuttle in an enclosure as well as a retired submarine and Concorde parked next to.


Some aircraft of the deck:


F-16 Falcon


A-12 (predecessor to the SR-71 Blackbird)


Experimental F-14 Super Tomcat


A-6 Intruder


MCDONNELL F3H-2N (F-3B) DEMON


AV-8 Harrier


F-4 Phantom


VOUGHT (F8U) F-8K CRUSADER


MIKOYAN-GUREVICH / PZL-MIELEC MiG-17 / Actually a LIM-5 painted in VPAF colours of a Mig-17.


Polish Mig-21 also painted in VPAF colours








NORTH AMERICAN FJ-3 FURY

The Space Shuttle Pavilion showcases the space shuttle Enterprise, the prototype NASA orbiter that paved the way for the space shuttle program.
The Enterprise never actually went into space and was used for tests.

[Foxbat]

The former USS Growler first opened at the Intrepid Museum in 1989 and is the only American guided missile submarine open to the public. Growler offers museum visitors a firsthand look at life aboard a submarine and a close-up inspection of the once "top-secret" missile command center. Access is available to the various compartments as they were used during operations.

USS Growler (SSG-577) was an early attempt by the U.S. Navy to field a cruise missile submarine that would provide a nuclear deterrent using its second series of cruise missiles. Built to deliver the Regulus I cruise missile, Growler was the second and final submarine of the Grayback class, fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the growler. Since Regulus I and Regulus II programs had problems, Growler and Grayback were the only two submarines built in this class as instead, the U.S. Navy veered its nuclear deterrence efforts into submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)—the Polaris missile program.

What makes Growler and her sister unusual was her nuclear armament, deployed on a conventional diesel-electric submarine. Her mission was to provide nuclear deterrent capability off the Pacific coast of the Soviet Union during peak years of the Cold War, from 1958 to 1964. Additionally, special forces missions were deployed from its torpedo tubes and nuclear hangar.







The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964.

The USS Growler was one of the first submarines armed with nuclear weapons and it had to surface to launch its nuclear missiles.




The cramped interiors of the submarine not much different from a WW2 sub.






The Concorde is a product of Anglo-French cooperation. When the Concorde entered Air France and British Airways transatlantic service in 1976, it was the only operational supersonic passenger transport in the world. With a crew of nine, the Concorde could fly at 1,350 mph (2,150 kph) at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,181 m), high enough for its 100 passengers to see the curvature of the earth.

This aircraft, serial no. 100-010 (G-BOAD), first flew on August 25, 1976. Concordes crossed the Atlantic Ocean in under three hours, or less than half the time of any other jetliner flying that route even today. Protests from environmentalists prevented its supersonic use over the United States and limited airport operation. A crash upon takeoff in July 2000 grounded the fleet until 2001. The Concorde flew VIP passengers until 2003, when both airlines retired their fleets from service. This airplane is on loan from British Airways.







Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Engine




Very generous leg space.

The windows are very tiny, the guide mentioned originally it was planned to have no windows in the aircraft.

A rather tiny bathroom.

Three man cockpit (two pilots + Flight Engineer) before the introduction of glass cockpits.




All Business class seating configuration is pretty crowded by today's standards.

[Foxbat]

USS Wasp (LHD-1) is a United States Navy multipurpose amphibious assault ship, and the lead ship of her class. She is the tenth USN vessel to bear the name since 1775, with the last two ships named Wasp being aircraft carriers. She was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton in Pascagoula, Mississippi and launched in 1987. Wasp and her sister ships are the first specifically designed to accommodate new Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) for fast troop movement over the beach, and Harrier II (AV-8B) Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) jets which provide close air support for the assault force. She can also accommodate the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, the tiltrotor MV-22 Osprey, the F-35B Lightning II multi-role fighter, conventional landing craft, and amphibious vehicles.





The USS Wasp alongside the retired USS Intrepid aircraft carrier from WWII.


Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk



Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey


Cockpit of the Osprey.




The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushioned landing craft (hovercraft) used by the United States Navy . They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel from ship to shore and across the beach. These are carried inside the ship and can transport tanks and other heavy vehicles.


Me trying a Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle. Luckily it was not loaded


The crew members gave a very detailed and guided tour of the ship and the pilots of each aircraft also gave an overview of their experiences. Overall it was a day well spent and the first time I was able to visit an operational Navy ship.

[Jeroen]

Very nice, thanks for sharing! Brings back memories. We visited NY and this museum in 2010 or 2011. All our kids came over from the Netherlands and we took them on a five day trip to NY.

Can’t recall they had the space shuttle at the time.

Jeroen

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Very nice, thanks for sharing! Brings back memories. We visited NY and this museum in 2010 or 2011. All our kids came over from the Netherlands and we took them on a five day trip to NY.

Can’t recall they had the space shuttle at the time.

Jeroen

I guess not, the space shuttle came in 2012. I visited for the first time in 2014 and it was there at that time as an extra charge

[V.Narayan]

Thank you Foxbat for sharing these photos and details of your tour. Very interesting to see the insides of the USS Wasp. I had presumed the well deck would be wider. Please post more photos if possible. Did you go into the engine room or catapult machinery area under deck. Great thread.

[am1m]

What an incredible use of public space in a crowded city and amazing use of decommissioned military hardware! Educational, inspirational (each air/space craft is a legend), and instills a sense of 'nation' in the people visiting.

We could take some cues from such an installation and utilize our public spaces better. Especially waterfronts, the land along any waterfront must be open for public use, not forked over to private development so the rich can have 'water-view' offices, residences, whatever.

Thank you for sharing!

[Raghu M]

Great thread, thank you for sharing. I visited these during my trip to the US in 2016. Brings back a lot of memories. The most exciting piece on display was the SR-71. Looking at it in flesh was nothing short of a goosebumps moment for me. After watching all those documentaries on the machine, it was great to look at it.

[chandrda]

Thanks for sharing the Photos, brought back memories from my visit back in 2013.

Its a must visit to those visiting NYC. Though I lived in NYC for 4 more years, never visited again as it became another land mark

Always wanted to visit the Intrepid after watching Will Smith playing golf off the wing of a stealth fighter in the movie "I am legend".

Regards

[Akshay1234]

Thanks for sharing. I was in New York just before Memorial day, and the museum shut early the day I was visiting, so I missed out. Now I feel like I've seen it

[NomadSK]

Thanks for Sharing, it's a lovely thread which have rekindled some old memories.

I was there during 2012. First time I had a visit inside the sub and trust me I felt claustrophobic.

Definitely, they have put new toys for display, I don’t remember seeing them. However, I remember there was a huge propeller for display which actually caught my eye.

Looked in my folders and I found these two pics.

[chautob0t]

Thanks for posting so many details, refreshed my memory and corrected it too (I always thought it's the SR-71!).

[Kkumar]

Excellent photos and write up. Brings back the memories of visiting INS Vikrant which was converted to a museum for a few years after decommissioning berthed in Mumbai dockyard. Had it been maintained like this it would have been a great asset.

[VellVector]

Thanks for sharing. The intrepid is a brilliant museum.

Originally Posted by Foxbat

When the Concorde entered Air France and British Airways transatlantic service in 1976, it was the only operational supersonic passenger transport in the world.

Small correction, Concorde wasn't the only supersonic passenger transport. The USSR rushed the short lived Tupolev Tu-144 into service just before the Concorde. The Tu-144 was withdrawn from use passenger use with under a 100 passenger flights operated.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Thank you Foxbat for sharing these photos and details of your tour. Very interesting to see the insides of the USS Wasp. I had presumed the well deck would be wider. Please post more photos if possible. Did you go into the engine room or catapult machinery area under deck. Great thread.

Since the ship is in service we were not allowed to go anywhere near anything important Comrade. It was a guided tour and they took copies of my passport, a retinal scam, ten fingerprints and a short interview to let me in. Luckily I wast not carrying my KGB ID card and recommendation letter from Putin

All aircraft operated are V/STOL so I don't think there are any catapults on the ship. Here are some more pictures:











The ships bell from a previous warship named USS Wasp from WW2. The Americans like to stay away from anything negative and controversial. The guide never mentioned that the previous USS Wasp was sunk by the Japanese and this bell had been recovered from the wreck.


When I asked the guide about any combat operations they served in they respectfully did not give any details.

Originally Posted by VellVector

Small correction, Concorde wasn't the only supersonic passenger transport. The USSR rushed the short lived Tupolev Tu-144 into service just before the Concorde. The Tu-144 was withdrawn from use passenger use with under a 100 passenger flights operated.

Yes you are correct, I copy and pasted from the website. In fact here is my post from 7 years ago making the same point:

Originally Posted by Foxbat

The Tu-144 was the World's first commercial supersonic aircraft and entered service before the Corcorde.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-144

Most of information we have available online is from Western Sources and in English and they tend to conveniently hide Russian achievements and portray themselves in better light.