I recently spent some time in Northern Virginia and had a chance to visit the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It’s located right next to Washington Dulles International Airport, which is way the heck out west of downtown D.C.

The SFUH Center is basically a big hangar with an IMAX theater and an observation tower. The exhibit highlights are the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the B-29 Enola Gay, a SR-71, and a whole host of other aircraft, spacecraft, engines, missiles, and….

a whole display case of MACHINE GUNS!

There’s no admission, but parking is $12. Also, there’s nothing else out here to see, whereas with the Smithsonian’s other buildings downtown (even so, I wasn’t able to spend as much time here as I would have liked; it’s tough when your group includes three hungry, tired, and cranky babies). All in all, I wouldn’t make a special trip, but if you are in the Dulles area, and have an hour or two to spare, it might be worthwhile.

Update – In the comments, Countertop points out:

While at the Udvar Center you were a mere yards (I’d say less than 1000) from Blue Ridge Arsenal and even more importantly you were about 5 miles down the road from the NRA and their award winning National Firearms Museum (talk about gun porn) as well as their stellar range. And to top it all off, you were only about 10 minutes from Bull Run Park Shotgun Center (not to mention Bull Run Park itself (as in Battle of Bull Run) and Manassas National Battlefield.

Thanks for the info! Now on to the Gun Pr0n!


From top to bottom: 1) 11mm Vickers, Model 1916, 2) .30 Caliber Lewis, Model 1917, 3) .30 Caliber Marlin, Model 1917

From top to bottom: 1) .50 Caliber Colt/Browning, Model M2, 2) .50 Caliber Colt/Browning, Model M2 Flexible Mount Version, 3) .30 Caliber Browning, Model M2

From top to bottom: 1) .50 Caliber Colt/Browning, Model M3, 2) .50 Caliber Colt/Browning, Model M2 Cutaway

Posted in uncategorized on April 13th, 2005 by Thibodeaux | RSS 2.0 |