Great Museum!

[Timmo]

For those that don't know I'm in Chicago at the moment My girlfriend woke up with a really bad migraine so I took the opportunity to go for a stroll and look at what used to be 'Meigs Field'- A downtown airport in Chicago that was the default starting position for MS Flightsim from around FS4 to FS2002 (?). I remember my brother and I playing FS4 and FS5 with him teaching me circuits etc in the C182 RG and Sopwith Camel

Unfortunately the airfield no longer exists as it was ripped up in a fairly sneaky 'raid' in the name of 'national security' a few years after the 9/11 attacks and is now a park. Apparently because the bulldozers moved in during the night and without warning, a few aircraft were still left parked on the apron!

When we arrived in Chicago a few days ago, it was -18C but has warmed up heaps in the last few days and things are now thawing out...including previously frozen dog cr*p....lots and lots of thawing dog cr*p!

The parks around here are fantastic and it's amazing to look up into the sky and be able to count at least 5 or so commercial aircraft in the sky at different levels- Either on approach to O'hare or transiting above.
Anyway- Enjoy the pics! They are clickable thumbnails

I always wondered what this building was in FS....I assumed it was a radar station....the modelling wasn't so good in FS4! It's an Planetarium which we hope to visit properly tomorrow


Airfield no more....this is looking NNW towards Chicago and would be between the old runway and apron.


Looking more Nth


Looking South


Looking SSW- The big black building was also modelled in FS4....had no idea what it was then and still have no idea what it is now?
(Google earth tells me it's a convention complex....she's a biggy!)



The old Control tower- Now home to a security company I think?


The old terminal- A lot smaller than I thought....perhaps the scaling was a bit off in FS4. Now home to the parks service.


Entrance to the old terminal from the carpark


Another view of the control tower


Looking south along the field from Solidarity Drive


Looking along Solidarity Drive towards the Planetarium


A looking towards downtown Chicago- It's a nice city. I like it


If you want to see a bit more, then check out the historical imagery option in Google Earth where you can see the airfield as it was, when it was being pulled up and how it is now.

[Bazza]

Nice stuff Timmo - very interesting. Like many others I "cut my teeth" on Meigs and was sorry to see it go.

As a matter of interest, it was 31 degrees here (your home town) yesterday and 31 degrees in my dining room at 10pm last night - you went too soon....

Enjoy your trip.

[deeknow]

Great pics Timmo, brings back memories for me too of early simming days. Doesn't look like they've done ANYTHING with the area since it was taken back?

[Naki]

Interesting photos...it was travesty what they did there..

As Barry said its sweltering here - the official temp here at 6:30pm was 30 degrees!...actually checking our temps against Australian temp yesterday we equaled Cairns and had higher temps than most of the Aussie cities except for Alice Springs and Darwin

[Charl]

Excellent post, Timmo.
I wonder how many flightsim nuts visit places just because they have seen them in the sim?
I can remember paying for a floatplane ride around San Francisco Bay for just that reason...
Your shots, and this GE view, brought back many memories for me too, many a Cessna was bounced on this approach.



I believe special dispensation had to be given for the stranded planes to take off from the taxiway, after the dozers had done their dastardly deed.

Happily there is FS9/FSX addon scenery available for Meigs Field at flightsim.com.

[Ian Warren]

Tim , I was on the phone when i view your posting , i knew exactly were you where , Megis Bloody field , home of FS5 to FS2002 , ever tried landing a Bell206 here with em square dang clouds , my regular fights was Champaign to Midway in the DC-3 Megis was used as the special divert ...

Super pleased you posting your travels , be looking forward to some further travel pics

[Timmo]

QUOTE (Bazza @ Feb 15 2011, 10:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice stuff Timmo - very interesting. Like many others I "cut my teeth" on Meigs and was sorry to see it go.

As a matter of interest, it was 31 degrees here (your home town) yesterday and 31 degrees in my dining room at 10pm last night - you went too soon....

Enjoy your trip.

Don't worry Bazza- We spent just under a month doing a cruise and travelling in Thailand before we came here so had a decent hit of sun!

The travels have been interesting so far- Our cruise got hit by a Cyclone (Vanya) with over 10m swells at one point- Since our cabin was at the front most part of the boat, it made for some interesting nights! The captain even managed to crash into the wharf at Port Vila after we got hit by a gust of wind- Vila was the only stop we got to make out of a planned 5 due to the weather!

On the flight from Bangkok to LAX, a gentlemen died of a heart failure part way over the Pacific so we had to turn back to Japan and land at Haneda. Unfortunately that meant that the crew couldn't complete the flight that day since they would exceed their maximum flight hours so we spent 18 hours sitting around in the terminal (weren't allowed to leave due to Japanese immagration....a shame as my old Tokyo apartment was only a 1/2 walk from Haneda!) This meant that we missed our planned flight from LAX to Chicago (we had planned to stay the night in LA and fly out again in the morning) so once we eventually got to LA we then had another long wait in the terminal until late that night, boarded the full plane (where I got to sit next to the extremely large passenger who took up half of my seat) and arrived in Chicago at 5am.....then spent the day at the Gym competition which was the reason for the trip here. So it was a loooooong time without proper sleep or showers or a change of clothes.

[Timmo]

So the last full day of Chicago was spent in the Museum of Science and Industry- A really well set up place a little out of town- Here are a few pics

The main hall- This contains half a real 727 (which landed at Meigs field and then transported to the museum by barge- It was a one way trip as it was too large to take off again). They had a guy there who had piloted this actual aircraft so it was interesting to talk to him- The aircraft had cut outs etc to show the inner workings too.

The Stuka is only one of two (?) in existence and was captured in Africa


Wright flyer (replica)



They even had 3 flight simulators! One was a simple 'ride' where it gave you an experience of different aviation things (i.e. carrier take off) but the other two were articulated sims where you controlled it- You had to buy two seats, one pilot and one gunner so my girlfriend and I did it- The task was to shoot down various aircraft, the pilot needing to get the aircraft in the right position for the gunner to do their work- The 'right position' sometimes involved being upside down which the sim faithfully re-created (including Michelles hair dropping down over her face haha)- Very fun


Mystery Flier I think this was called



This was a german U-boat captured by the Yanks in the war- Pretty cool to see it. It used to be inside but was moved into this underground hall 10 or so years ago- Very impressive. You could do tours inside but we arrived here a bit late- Still cool to see it including the damage on the conning tower (.50 cal + was fired at it to subdue but not sink the sub)


Conning tower

Rear torpedo tubes etc


We only got to spend a few minutes at the space part which was a shame (although as I type this I'm at Cape Canaveral so we will be seeing heaps more space stuff starting tomorrow!)
Gemini capsule....not the biggest place to be inside of!

Apollo capsule (Apollo 14 from memory)


As I said- we are at the Cape now and are staying with a kiwi guy who lives 10 km away from the launchpad where John Glenn was launched from- STS-133, one of the final Space shuttle launches EVER is happening on Thursday...so stoked!

[Ian Warren]

Hey Tim , with Michelle having a bad hair day , .. did ya get that Phantom ? !

Keep us posted on the Shuttle Launch

[HamiltonWest]

Awesome Photo's Timmo Thanks for Shareing them they are all Really
Re: STS-133 it's most Important Cargo would have to be this : A Hamilton flag
Hamilton prepare for liftoff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/...are-for-liftoff
Shuttle crew may make Waikato landing
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/...Waikato-landing