last remaining examples in existence such as the Aichi M6A1 Seiran and
the Dornier Do 335 Pfeil.
One of the most recent additions on public display, is the last Sikorsky
JRS-1, the military version of the Sikorsky S-43. The museum’s example
is the only aircraft in their collection that was at Pearl Harbor on
December 7, 1941. After the attack, it was one of ten JRS-1’s that went
in search of the Japanese fleet. Although the tattered fabric gives the
impression the plane was damaged during the attack, a museum
volunteer explained that it was really from years of outside storage.
The airplane that piqued my interest the most is bright orange and hangs
from the rafters - the Grumman Gulfhawk II. It was built for Gulf Oil
Company and piloted by Major Al Williams, the head of Gulf’s aviation
department. He campaigned the plane on the airshow circuit from 1936
to 1948, demonstrating aerobatics and dive bombing techniques before
giving it to the Smithsonian in late 1948.
My small connection to the Gulfhawk began in the mid-80s, when one
of my early photography mentors, Larry Lowery, a photographer for Life
Magazine, The National Geographic and many other publications, gifted
me a black and white photo of the plane. He gave it to me when I flew
a Cessna 172 to 10,000 feet so he could get some high altitude shots of
the city of Boston. It took a while to get the small plane to that altitude,
and even longer to get down to avoid shock-cooling the engine, but
everything went off without a hitch.
The picture itself is of Major Williams tossing out the shotgun shell
after starting the Gulfhawk at an airshow in Bedford, MA. It hangs on
the wall of my office to this day as one of my fondest memories of my
flying career.
The photographs in this article are just a small sampling of the 350 shots
I took that day, ranging from the Crosley Flea to the Lockheed SR-71
Blackbird.
After an afternoon of binging on amazing and historical airplanes I
was jolted back to reality when scheduling sent us to Teterboro and
Grand Island, Nebraska the following day.