We went to the Museum of Science and Industry here today to visit their century of flight celebration and I must say I was a bit disappointed.  

The museum has a fantastic aircraft and space collection.  The first thing you see when you walk ni the front, is a Spitfire Mk1 and a Stuka swooping down on you.  Farther in is a Coast Guard Helicopter, again hanging from the ceiling.  If you follow off to the left of the front entrance, you get to the meat of the museum's collection.  Present are a Boeing B40 mail plane, a full size flying replica of a Curtiss Jenny, a Texaco Racing plane I can't identify, and a REAL 727 that they flew into Miegs and carted down Lakeshore drive on a truck.  On the floor are several locomotives, the ballon used to set the altitude record, and Craig Breedlove's 'Spirit of America' racer that at one time held the world's land speed record.  Mixed in are several engines for the planes, and a MASSIVE model train display.

So I was a little disappointed by what they devoted to the Century of Flight celebration.  There were two aircraft.  A Stearman, and a Beoing B2 helicopter.  You could sit in the Stearman a few seconds before you were rushed out, but it was nice to be able to in the first place.  Same thing with the helicopter, though it wasn't as closely monitored.  There were about 20 life-sized photo's of various cockpits from the Smithsonian including the Enola Gay, Bell X-1, Mustang, Spitfire, SR-71, Space Shuttle and others.  That was it, except for one other thing.  They had FS2004 set up on a eight foot screen for playing in Kiosk mode and a joystick mounted on a pedastal for flying.  Other than the Stearman, that was the highpoint.  Unfortunately, it was on an underpowered machine and stuttered like a virgin on his first date.  Their was also supposed to be a copy of the Wright Flyer, but it was not in evidence.  When asked where it was, the guide pointed to the Spitfire and Stuka above and said 'Maybe it's one of those.'  

So basically, they had a Stearman, a helicopter, and FS on a big screen, but not playable.

But that was it.  The MSI here is a world class museum.  Their exhibits are things to behold. But they really let me down on this one.  Maybe I was expecting too much, but I don't think so.  My day got better, but I'll cover that in another thread.

End of Rant.

It's the same plane.  I remember seeing the same plane when I was about six when we visited there.

  I went to MSI for the first time on a school trip when I was a little kid, then we went on to a White Sox game.
  I have been there a few times since then and the thing that always freaks me out even now, is that dude they have sliced into 100 pieces in the cases to show the inside of the human body.
If I remember correctly, don't they have a description of how they froze the body and then sliced him up on a band saw? Creeps me out man.