Other than the natural beauty of the outdoors area, one of the best places I visited in Seattle was the Museum of Flight. This was unexpected as I’d previously visited the Museum of Space and Aviation in Washington DC and so didn’t expect Seattle’s Museum of Flight to come even close in terms of what it could offer. It just goes to show how wrong pre-conceived notions can be!
The main difference was that whilst the big “wow” factor for visitors at Washington DC’s Space and Aviation Museum were mainly connected to space travel and the vehicles/exhibits that were connected to that, the Flight Museum in Seattle’s “wow” belongs to retired passenger type aircraft that you can board and look around. There is a section of the museum that’s about space, but mostly it’s about flight and man.
The outdoor area was what really took my breath away. Being able to board Concorde, something my budget would never have allowed me to do was quite something. I can now say “I’ve been on Concorde” – of course it wasn’t going anywhere but so what? I have been inside it! The highlight of the museum for me was to board a retired “Airforce 1” plane. This was like going back in time as the furnishings are very much set in the 1960s so apart from the political importance, there’s such a lot to see about what was fashionable at the time the plane flew in the skies.
If you have any love for aircraft, or flight, or just a yearning to see how the richer folks flew on Concorde, or presidents flew on “Airforce 1”, don’t miss this jewel in the Emerald City’s crown!
