Monday November 29, 2010

We were in San Diego for another day so we were looking for some of the hi lights to visit on Tripadvisor when we noticed that the Aircraft Carrier Tour of the Midway was highly rated. We had sailed past it yesterday and it looked like it would be worth a quick tour before lunch.

This carrier went in service in 1945 and was decommissioned in 1992.


The hangar deck had a number of WW2 vintage propeller planes on display.


The 4.1 acre flight deck had about 20 jet aircraft and helicopters on display along with a number of volunteers who explained how they launched and retrieved the aircraft on the deck. They could launch or retrieve planes at a rate of one every 45 seconds.


We also got a tour of the bridge where the ship navigation and air traffic control occur.


The last major operation this carrier was involved in was leading Operation Desert Storm. This is the room from where the attack was planned and launched.


The engine room was interesting, four 55,000 hp cross compound steam turbines driving 4 screws. The stopping time from max cruising speed of 33 kts was 27 minutes.


It seems that it is difficult to take a quick tour of an aircraft carrier. Before we knew it, we had been on board for four hours.

There were three current nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the harbour along with at least a dozen other warships.


We decided to take a drive to Coronado island to explore the area. One item of interest was a view of the Carnival Cruise ship that was towed here after it was disabled at sea last month.


We then drove to Del Mar to visit a friend of Jim & Sharon's. Steve has a great collection of toys. He showed us his two Amphicars and 64 Mustang convertible.


He also had a great collection of garden trains, R/C sailboats and American Flyer trains. You can never have too many toys!

We went out for supper with Steve and Connie and got back to the hotel for an early evening.