A visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum posed a question – am I an aviation ‘geek’? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps this is a question that is somewhat irrelevant when visiting both of these Washington campuses. The thing is, many of the exhibits here speak to more than just aviation – they represent period of great progress and even periods of massive significance to the human race. Take the Enola Gay: as an aircraft, it may seem unremarkable, but its place in the direction of World War II is undeniable. Other aircraft, though, while also representing big moments in human history, can bear scrutiny on the basis of their technological reputation alone – such as the Concorde, the Space Shuttle Discovery and the SR-71 ‘Blackbird’.
