New England Air Museum

On the last day of this summer, I visited the New England Air Museum. While I was buying the ticket, I looked around and wondered how an air museum can be a historical site. However, after I stepped into the first hangar, I found the answer. In this museum, aircrafts and engines from different time periods were displayed, separating into two categories­­–– military aircrafts and civilian aircrafts. Visitors can just pay 15 dollars and come in to see some impressive aircrafts.

To be honest, I was really bored at first–– there was literally nothing except the airplanes. Nevertheless, after we bumped into a guide, he gave us a full tour of the museum and introduced almost every plane in depth, even with the stories behind those airplanes. I would say that the historical memory it was trying to convey was just the history behind the development of aircrafts and how they influenced people’s lives, and this museum was just trying to document and conserve all of these memories. It also conveys American identity including ambition, growth, and ingenuity. For example, during the tour, the guide showed us how Curtiss-type pusher worked. I was really impressed by the fact that a 17-year-old boy came up with such extraordinary ideas about how to control the plane. Also, the travel history of Sikorsky VS-44A ‘Excambian’ surprised me, along with its interior designs–– it is much better than current airplanes!

In addition, what really interested in this museum was people’s reaction toward those aircrafts being used in WWII. Throughout the guide’s zealous introductions of these planes, I wonder whether he had stopped some time to think about how many people suffered and died from all of these wonderful novelties. Also, for all of those visitors who came here to worship these great inventions: Have they thought about what was behind all of these? Will people from different areas view these aircrafts differently, or will they just view them regardless of the history contents? The whole experience saddened me as it reflected people’s ignorance toward the war when focusing on these inventions. However, it was good to see the war from a more technical, professional, and rational perspective, without any emotions or biases. After all, I enjoyed this trip to NEAM.