Visiting pearl harbor

[Bill Greenwood]

Hawaii is a great place to visit, especially when winter sets in here on the mainland.
For almost any aviation or history minded person, go see Pearl Harbor. And there is a way to do it that offers a lot extra.
First get a booklet that has a map of Oahu as it was on that day, where the airfields, etc, were.
Then do an air tour of the island.
There are some flights on ordinary planes, but the one we liked best was a DH Beaver on floats from near the main airport, and it went all around the island, so you could see the north and west shore as the attacking planes saw it. Not cheap, but well worth it for an hour, ( the 1/2 hour tour shows only the east side tourist things).
Then go over to Ford Island and see the museum there, and of course the Arizona memorial, and if you have time also the USS Missouri moored there.

I hope to do it again.

And rest in peace for those who died there.

[FlyingRon]

If you want to go to the Arizona...alot sufficient time. They issue tickets for the boat as you walk up to the desk and it's typically 60-90 minutes before your boarding time. There is a nice little museum right at the boarding area that you can kill time in.

Another great thing to do in the Vicinity is the Pacific Aviation Museum over in some hangars on Ford Island. Their restoration hangar still has bullet holes in the windows from the 1941 attack. Nice little museum. Had also one of my favorite things. Many museums have issues coming up with what to use for barriers between the public and the artifact. This museum has one exhibit that appears to be ringed with barbed wire. Turns out to be a clever deception, the barbs are made out of rubber. I pointed this out to some of the National Air and Space folks as a pretty neat idea.

The same bus that takes you from the visitor center goes to the Air Museum and the Missouri.

[skier]

There are some flights on ordinary planes, but the one we liked best was a DH Beaver on floats from near the main airport, and it went all around the island, so you could see the north and west shore as the attacking planes saw it. Not cheap, but well worth it for an hour, ( the 1/2 hour tour shows only the east side tourist things).

When I went (probably almost 10 years ago now), we found a place that was doing rides in a stearman around the island and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's only one at a time (there were 3 of us), but it was by far the most fun thing we did over there. It's actually what got me interested in becoming a pilot.

I believe this is the guy: http://stearmanbiplanerides.com/

[Bill Greenwood]

That is a great idea. Years ago when I was there on another trip, the Stearman was based on Maui, and was down for an annual so that I didn't fly with him.
The only problem with the Stearman is that it only holds one passenger whereas the Beaver can take a couple or even 3.
Both a great was to see the island.