Flight Deck Podcast

Wendy Lawrence is a retired NASA astronaut and pilot for the United States Navy. She joined host Sean Mobley for a frank and honest conversation about resilience, finding community, and reflecting on her time in the Navy and at NASA through an LGBTQ+ lens. In Season 3 of The Flight Deck, we're sharing stories of LGBTQ+ people in aerospace. Full shownotes at www.museumofflight.org/podcast

LGBTQ+ people have been part of aviation and space science for centuries. Today's episode is a bit of a departure from our normal format. Special guest Joalda Morancy rejoins host Sean Mobley to spotlight 10 individuals in aerospace past and present who are part of the LGBTQ+ umbrella. This list of 10 people is not meant to be comprehensive. If you were making your own list, who would you include? Let us know! Contact us via email at podcast at museumofflight dot org. We'd love to hear your opinions! In Season 3 of The Flight Deck, we're sharing stories of LGBTQ+ people in aerospace. Full shownotes at www.museumofflight.org/podcast

Museums are places where history is presented and interpreted, and presenting and interpreting the stories of LGBTQ+ people in aerospace brings with it unique challenges for the people doing the interpreting. Isaac Fellman and Tony Pankuch, two thinkers in the museum and archives world whose focus is on LGBTQ+ stories, join host Sean Mobley to consider people like Sally Ride, Amelia Earhart, Josephine Baker and others from aviation and space history whose stories have much more to say than what typically gets recorded on museum walls. Full shownotes -> https://tmof.click/3NeI3vU

Dr. Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna are Black, queer Pittsburgh-based multidisciplinary artists who weave indigenous African cosmic stories into their work. A recent film they directed, The Primordial House is an example of this, referencing everything from modern pictures of deep space phenomenon to the connections the Igbo people have had to the Sirius star system since ancient times to the celestial stylings of Black jazz artist Sun Ra. They join host Sean Mobley for a conversation about their work and the ways sky stories and space exploration have shaped African storytelling for millennia. In Season 3 of The Flight Deck, we're sharing stories of LGBTQ+ people in aerospace. Full shownotes -> https://tmof.click/41eXhHr

Greg Sumner grew up fascinated by airplanes and managed to parlay that love of aviation into a career as a pilot, flying some of the most iconic aircraft out there for United Airlines. He also served as the co-chair of the National Gay Pilots Association, a worldwide organization dedicated to creating community for LGBTQ+ people across all aviation jobs, and fostering a more inclusive industry. He joined me to share some of his favorite pilot stories, to talk about a 9/11 hero who was a member of the National Gay Pilots Association, and explain why he feels diversity and inclusion aren't just buzzwords, but a matter of life and death. Content note: At about 28:40, Greg shares a derogatory term for a gay man that was used to describe him by another pilot.

The history of the gay men who still make up an unusually large percentage of the flight attendant labor force is not well known. Associate Professor of History at Kansas State University Phil Tiemeyer covered this topic in his book “Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality, and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants.” While the book covers almost a century of history, Phil sat down for an interview that focused on the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the way two flight gay male attendants with Pacific Northwest connections left their mark on history. Full shownotes at the link: https://tmof.click/47cWLvq

Author, astrophysicist and science communicator Joalda Morancy wrote their young readers book “Aliens: Join the Scientists Searching Space for Extraterrestrial Life” while they were still a college student at the University of Chicago in 2021. They joined our host Sean Mobley for conversation about science, finding their people, and the reasons genuine representation in STEM helps make our own planet a better place for everyone. Full shownotes at https://tmof.click/47lsYk1

There's little about Dr. Margaret “Mom” Chung's story that you can call ordinary. From her status as the first known Chinese American woman doctor, to her secret mission to recruit pilots for the American Volunteer Group in World War II, to the ways she intentionally transgressed and presented both masculinity and femininity in her life in order to gain access and acceptance, to the thousands of soldiers and celebrities who gathered at her home, each new chapter in her life adds a fascinating dimension to her. In this episode of the podcast, part of our series on LGBTQ+ stories in aerospace, Dr. Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Professor of Asian American Studies and Associate Dean of the UC Irvine School of Humanities, sheds some light on this forgotten figure in aviation figure. *Note from Sean* - The sound for this episode is a bit low quality due to a recording snafu on my part. Our guest sounds great, but I sound like I'm using a tin can for a microphone! The issue has been resolved for future episodes. Sorry about that! Full shownotes at museumofflight.org/podcast

Welcome to Season 3 of The Flight Deck! This season's theme is LGBTQ+ aerospace history. We'll be investigating the ways that LGBTQ+ people have been part of aviation and space exploration since the beginning, and also the ways the aerospace industry has shaped the LGBTQ+ community. We've got a fantastic lineup of conversations heading your way this season, and it's starting off with X-15 historian, transgender activist, Air Force veteran and science educator Michelle Evans. Michelle Evans spent most of her Air Force service here in Washington State and was even on base when Mount St. Helens erupted! In this interview, she shares stories from her time in the service, discusses ways her time in the Air Force intersected with her identity as a trans woman, and reflects on how her friendships helped her weather difficult moments on base. Full shownotes and transcript at https://tmof.click/46Iuahl

What a century! We recently visited the National Museum of the Untied States Air Force to get a close-up look at the Century Series aircraft on display there (F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105, F-106 and F-107). As a delightful bonus to that trip, our Senior Curator Matthew Burchette got to interview Doug Lantry, Curator at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Not only that, but he did it in one of the NMUSAF's storage hangars normally out-of-bounds for visitors. This episode wraps up Season 2 of The Flight Deck. Stay tuned for Season 3, premiering in a few weeks! Full show notes and transcript -> https://tmof.click/3szMLx8

If you live in a rural area and don't have access to a hospital, what do you do in a medical emergency? That's where Life Flight comes in. Life Flight and other organizations like it use helicopters to whisk passengers in hard-to-reach areas over mountains and bodies of water that would take cars hours to travel, in a matter of minutes. On top of that, the helos are equipped with life-saving equipment to keep a patient stable during the trip. Meet a pilot and a nurse for Life Flight in today's episode to learn more about how aviation provides a vital link between people and the health care they need. Transcript and show notes at the link -> https://tmof.click/3qLsvry

Thousands of satellites are zooming over your head right now, orbiting Earth and beaming down research data, images, phone calls and even Internet access. Did you know that many of those satellites were made within a few miles of The Museum of Flight? Join Geoff Nunn, our Adjunct Curator for Space History, and our Senior Curator Matthew Burchette for a conversation about these small orbiting wonders. Get the full shownotes and transcript --> https://tmof.click/458yGFc

Each year, Seafair brings a spectacular air show to the skies above Seattle. The jewel of the show is the annual performance by the Blue Angels, the United States Navy's demonstration team. This episode features a conversation with some of the behind-the-scenes crew of the Blues, learning about the many people who support the team to keep the Blues in safe condition. Full show notes ➡️ https://tmof.click/3DM7VKF

Welcome to Season 2 of The Flight Deck! From now on we'll be presenting podcast episodes in themed seasons, letting us explore stories from aerospace in entirely new ways. This season is all about “Curator on the Loose!” The Museum of Flight's hit webseries. With almost 4 million views, the show features our Senior Curator Matthew Burchette taking viewers into areas of the aviation industry they normally don't get to explore. If you've seen the webseries, you probably enjoy the epic interviews Matthew's scored with fascinating folks from across the country. But you probably don't realize that those interviews are greatly condensed for the tv series. We'll be sharing extended interviews, or conversations that were cut entirely for time! Did you know that airports have their own specialized fire stations? In today's episode, Matthew's taking us to the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting station here on Boeing Field. Learn the connection between the fire station and the Museum, and how the firefighters prepare to respond to an incident anywhere on the field within seconds. Transcript/Full show notes ➡️ https://blog.museumofflight.org/flightdeck/fire-on-the-airfield

In the conclusion to a two-part series about the mysterious DB Cooper, this episode picks up the story from its cliffhanger ending in Part I, with Museum of Flight Docent Mike Burns sharing the events in the aftermath of the hijacking, the aircraft involved in the search for Cooper, and the theories that persist even to this day about the true identity of the missing criminal. Full Shownotes -> https://bit.ly/3rK4BLo

This episode comes out on the brink of a major anniversary here in Seattle. 50 years ago tomorrow, November 24, on the eve of Thanksgiving, a man known only as DB Cooper boarded a plane in Portland headed for Seattle. What followed is a tale of danger, extortion, and hundreds of thousands of missing dollars - over a million in today's money. Host Sean Mobley sat down with Museum of Flight docent Mike Burns to get the story. Full shownotes --> https://bit.ly/3nKGtG7

If you've shopped in the Museum's store, Lynda Eck may have helped you with your purchase. Before she started working here at the Museum, however, Lynda had a 35-year career flying with United on aircraft like the classic 747, first as a stewardess, then as a flight attendant. She joins host Sean Mobley for a conversation about her career chock full of stories from the friendly skies. Full show notes -> https://bit.ly/3CDY5YX

What's it like to drift from planet to planet, exploring the universe? In today's episode of The Flight Deck, you get to do just that. Host Sean Mobley invites you to take a break from the hustle and bustle for a few minutes as he leads you through a game of Alone Among the Stars, a journaling game by Takuma Okada (@noroadhome) where you play an intergalactic explorer chronicling their adventures through a series of writing prompts. Imagination is at the core of science, so remember to practice imagining from time to time! You never know what discovery it can lead to. Full Show Notes -> https://bit.ly/3pifGC8 Photo Credit: NASA

How does studying a giraffe help make a better space suit? Dr. Dava Newman is the current Director of the MIT Media Lab and served as a Deputy Administrator of NASA in the mid-2010s. She's been with MIT's School of Engineering since 1993, where she ponders questions like how giraffes avoid passing out lifting their little heads up to munch on some trees, and uses these findings to lead a team of innovators creating the MIT BioSuit, which is a completely new approach to a long-standing challenge in aerospace, namely how to keep a human body pressurized at high altitudes or in space, where pressure is absent. A BioSuit is currently on display at The Museum of Flight in our temporary exhibit, “Stranger Than Fiction: The Incredible Science of Aerospace Medicine.” Dr. Newman joins host Sean Mobley to talk about giraffes, and other inspirations from nature, about the BioSuit, and about how imagination and creative thinking dwell at the core of science and engineering. Full shownotes here: https://bit.ly/3AcmB1x

How do you build a rocket engine without blowing your factory up? Vern Estes took on this assignment as one of his first tasks in the family business of model rocket manufacturing. In today's podcast episode, he recalls reaching the challenging goal of creating a machine that could quickly, and safely, pack model rocket engines to keep up with the voracious demand from a public eager to launch their own kits into the atmosphere. Full Shownotes: https://bit.ly/3CpOlRE

Before the Wright Brothers and airplanes, hot air balloons dominated the skies. Today we're going to explore the origin of the hot air balloon, and we're going to do it with an old time radio show: the original podcast. First aired September 17, 1946, ‘The Birth of the Balloon' is a dramatized recreation of what people in 1946 thought the early days of ballooning might have been like based on their understanding of history. Full shownotes here: https://bit.ly/3jRMdf7

Former NASA Astronaut Wendy Lawrence is a veteran both of the Untied States Navy and four NASA Space Shuttle missions – including the Return to Flight mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster. In today's episode, she talks about how she had to stop thinking of Russians as Cold War enemy and start thinking of them as space-bound allies, how she mapped out her future into space as a teen, and the perspective that astronauts gain when they're out there among the stars. Full Shownotes Here https://bit.ly/3sDIaG4

Flying fish from the Civil War era. Jetpacks with dolls. Planes in a bottle. As with any museum, only a fraction of The Museum of Flight's collection is on display. In today's episode, members of the Museum's Collections team discuss some of the curios they've come across during their work, all of which are features on The Museum of Flight's Collections Instagram. Read the full shownotes (and find links to photos of the objects) here: https://bit.ly/3jCgI7v

Picture this: You're a doctor on an aircraft carrier. You're awoken and told of an emergency on the lowest decks of the ship. You rush down staircase after staircase and find a sailor, his legs crushed by an elevator that's stuck. You need to amputate or he'll likely die. You don't have time to go get your full kit. All you have on you is a pocketknife. This was Hank Davis' reality, as he shares in this second part of his conversation with host Sean Mobley. In honor of the new temporary exhibit at The Museum of Flight, Stranger Than Fiction: The Incredible Story of Aerospace Medicine, Hank shares this and other stories from his time aboard the USS Coral Sea. Read the full shownotes here ---> https://blog.museumofflight.org/flightdeck/stranger-than-fiction-stories-from-a-flight-surgeon-part-ii

We're celebrating the opening of our new temporary exhibit Stranger Than Fiction: The Incredible Story of Aerospace Medicine by chatting with Hank Davis, a former flight surgeon on the USS Coral Sea. He talks about the grueling medical and aviation training he undertook to practice medicine aboard an aircraft carrier, tending to the needs of the aviators above and the crew below. https://blog.museumofflight.org/flightdeck/stories-from-a-flight-surgeon-part-1 Become a donor and support The Museum of Flight and The Flight https://pages.museumofflight.org/flight-deck-donate Check out information about the new temporary exhibit Stranger Than Fiction, including events, programs, and tickets. https://museumofflight.org/Exhibits/Stranger-Than-Fiction Want more medical podcasts? Check out our episode “Surviving the Final Frontier” for a discussion on human bodies handle the stress of being in outer space. https://blog.museumofflight.org/flightdeck/surviving-the-final-frontier

What does it take to turn real-life war stories into a game? Jason Morningstar, Creative Director of Bully Pulpit Games, released the tabletop roleplaying game Night Witches in 2015 with the goal of connecting players with the history of Soviet women who flew night raids over the Nazis during World War II. In this episode of The Flight Deck, he and host Sean Mobley discuss the true stories and people who inspired the game, as well as the challenges game designers face adapting something as serious as wartime experiences into a fun, compelling, respectful game. Check out the full show notes: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

Teasel Muir-Harmony, Curator of the Apollo program at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, once again joins host Sean Mobley in this conclusion to the two-episode series on the political history of the Apollo program. In this episode, she talks about the classic 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and its place in Apollo political history, how domestic and international perceptions of the Apollo program varied quite significantly, and what role museums have in helping people deconstruct their understandings of history when new research challenges long-held ideas previously accepted as fact. We highly recommend listening to the previous episode before this one. Read the entire show notes: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

Returning guest Teasel Muir-Harmony, Curator of the Apollo program at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, joins host Sean Mobley for a Q&A about her book Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo. In this first of a two-part series, Teasel sets the stage and talks about the wider global context within which the US space program operated. We discussed the American politicians who encouraged and shaped panic around Sputnik and the space race, the importance of symbolism in a lot of the images and actions the astronauts took both on the moon and here on Earth, and how racism was a national security risk which the space program was partially designed to counter. Read the entire show notes: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

This episode takes a break from talking aviation and space history to have a conversation with someone making history right now. Bryné Hadnott, a science writer and founder of Space Out STEM. With a career that has ranged from hard space science to historical writing, Bryné is a rising star in the aerospace and science fields. Fortunately for The Museum of Flight, she’s also a mentor for the Michael P. Anderson program, a free education opportunity for students from underserved communities named in honor of Michael P. Anderson, an African-American astronaut who was killed Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. In our conversation, Bryné and I talked about her journey to study the stars through the maze of academia, the science fiction that inspires her, and the importance of community and resilience in the face of adversity. See the full show notes by following this link: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

Evoking images of glamorous air travel and high society, the Boeing 314 Clipper is one of the most romanticized aircraft in history. These massive flying boats ferried passengers, mostly for PanAm, to Hawaii and other vacation destinations. Museum of Flight Docent Bill McCutcheon shares the history of the Clipper, its prominent use by the government during World War II, and the legacy of this short-lived but well-remembered aircraft. Check out the full show notes: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

Naval Dentist Tom Davidson yearned to score a spot in the back seat of one of the fighter planes of the flight group he was assigned to. After patient waiting, his opportunity for a joyride finally came. After landing from the exhilarating experience, he started writing a letter to his family detailing the thrill of flight…but he never finished or sent that letter. Tom shares a deeply personal story about his aviation experience in this episode of The Flight Deck, immersing us in the world of someone on the fringes of military aviation during the Vietnam War and explaining the story of his unfinished letter. Check out the full show notes, including links to the images, at https://bit.ly/3sdfX7Y.

Unbridled wonder. The sort of joy that just seems to radiate out at you. That is the subject of today’s podcast episode, where Museum of Flight President and CEO Matt Hayes takes us back over 100 years to an historic aviation event in Los Angeles, captured in a photo of four women found in our Museum’s digital archives. He talks about the marvels the women may have been witnessing, as this was the first event in the United States where aircraft were really showcased to the masses. Imagine seeing something you’ve not only never seen before but have no mental reference to relate it to. That’s what these four women, and thousands of other spectators who braved a rare LA rain experienced. Take a listen to learn more, and make sure you see the photo for yourself! We could all certainly use a smile. Check out the full shownotes, including links to the images, at www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck.

An aviation conspiracy dating back 100 years continues to capture the imaginations of New Zealanders. What’s the truth behind this story, involving secret caves, military secrets, and the first Boeing airplane? Host Sean Mobley sat down with Museum of Flight Docent Leslie Czechowski to dig into this curious episode of aerospace history which spans continents and centuries. Full Show Notes: www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck

You may know Alexander Graham Bell for his telephone, but did you know he had a hand in some of the most bizarre, strange-looking experimental aviation designs? Today’s episode is a chat with Museum of Flight Curator Matthew Burchette (of “Curator on the Loose” fame) about these bonkers designs and the adventure of experimentation in the early days of contemporary aviation, when hopeful engineers had bold visions, big ideas, and incorrect understanding of aerodynamics as they put together design after unique design in hopes of being the first to build a successful engine-powered airplane. These designs need to be seen to be believed! Check out the full show notes, including links to the images, here: https://bit.ly/2JKBxjh

In this final episode of 2020, we welcome author Phil Stamper onto the show for a discussion of adapting space history into fiction for a modern young adult audience, the literary inspirations for his book The Gravity of Us, and the realities LGBTQ+ astronauts faced throughout NASA history from Sally Ride all the way back to the days of Project Mercury.

What happens at the end of the world? Today’s episode is the finale of the playthrough of “Before There Were Stars,” a storytelling game about creating myths based on constellations. Join a team of science educators from around the world as they follow in the footsteps of the ancient storytellers and look to the stars for inspiration and a way to describe the world around them, bringing their stories to a conclusion at the End of Time. This episode will not make much sense unless you first listen to Part 1 of our Before There Were Stars playthrough, which you can check out at www.museumofflight.org/podcast.

Join a team of storytellers as they look up at the stars to create myths and legends based on what they see. Today’s episode is Part I of a playthrough of the storytelling family game “Before There Were Stars,” featuring science educators from around the world improvising a creation myth based on images seen in an imaginary night sky. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.   You can keep the podcast and The Museum of Flight going by making a tax-deductible donation. https://pages.museumofflight.org/flight-deck-donate   Want to try “Before There Were Stars” yourself? Purchase a copy at The Museum of Flight’s online store. Your purchase will support The Museum of Flight and the game makes a wonderful holiday (or anytime) gift. https://www.museumofflightstore.org/toys/puzzles-games/before-there-were-stars-game.html   Learn more about Ricky and Matheatre’s work, including education opportunities and their new podcast, here: https://matheatre.com/   Check out Cassandra’s “We Share the Same Moon” program, weaving together and science and storytelling, here: https://www.wesharethesamemoon.org/   You can find Kyle over here at Digitalis, which is also adapting their planetarium software for online use with the Digitarium Skybox. http://digitaliseducation.com/products-digitarium_skybox   Natalie’s work at The Museum of Flight includes using those planetariums to create remote-learning experiences. Learn more about The Museum of Flight’s planetarium shows here, and find more of Natalie’s work here: https://www.museumofflight.org/Education/Explore-programs/portable-universe https://nataliejcopeland.wixsite.com/nataliecopeland

We think of history in terms of grand, sweeping events and often forget that actual humans are at the center of it. Today’s episode reminds us that people drive history, everyday people like you and me who are swept up or have to react to these larger events. The discussion centers around Mike Caputo, a World War II B-24 Navigator, and his daughter Yvonne, the woman who helped him open up about the wartime experiences he’d hidden deep inside. While helping her father document his story in his own voice, she forged a stronger connection with him that she carries even today after he’s passed away.

It’s common to hear a visitor to The Museum of Flight wonder how astronauts go to the bathroom in space. Today is the continuation of a conversation with Museum of Flight staff member Brenda Mandt, who spearheads the tours of the Museum’s NASA Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer, where she talks about modern space toilets on the Space Shuttle and on the ISS. She also talks about what did and didn’t work about toilet and personal care needs when women joined the US space program. As with the previous episode, this is a frank and honest conversation about toilets and what goes in them, so listen to learn more but maybe not while you’re snacking.

“How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?” This is a question we hear often at the Museum, asked by people young and old from all around the world. Host Sean Mobley enlisted Museum of Flight expert Brenda Mandt, one of the masterminds behind the Museum’s NASA Space Shuttle Full Fuselage Trainer Tours, to investigate how humans carry out this universal body function in space. In this first of two episodes, Brenda shares about the early tests and solutions developed for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. They were messy and uncomfortable!

Bill Wilson, a Vietnam Veteran and Museum of Flight Docent, features in this episode of The Flight Deck, sharing his story of bailing out of his crashing General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark just a few miles from Hanoi, the capital of the Communist government of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Surrounded by hills, jungle, and enemy combatants, Wilson did everything he could to evade capture long enough for a rescue attempt, a situation made more complicated by the constantly changing weather which foiled efforts to extract him. If you wish to support the podcast and the Museum financially you can do so at www.musemofflight.org/flightdeck. This episode is one part of a two-episode collection titled “A Tale of Two Aviators,” telling the story of two US aviators who served in Vietnam who were both shot down over the course of their service. You can listen to the other episode in this collection at www.museumofflight.org/flightdeck. During this unprecedented time, The Museum of Flight has been working hard to bring our collection to you through the help of virtual experiences and online activities for students and families. Explore our all-new Museum of Flight at Home feature which provides 3D tours of our aircraft, educational recourses, podcasts, videos and so much more! Museum of Flight at Home: https://pages.museumofflight.org/museum-at-home

Museum of Flight Docent Jerry Coy returns to The Flight Deck to share a story of survival behind enemy lines. When Captain Roger Locher’s McDonnell F-4 Phantom was hit by fire from a Vietnamese MiG-21, he safely bailed out…only to realize he was months away by foot from safety, and was deep in Communist territory, making an air rescue extremely dangerous. In order to extract him, the Air Force would have to essentially “pause” the war. Today’s episode details Locher’s saga deep in the northern reaches of Vietnam.

Wrapping up the Collections miniseries, today we’re looking at the oldest artifact in our archives. To find it, we need to go back behind-the-scenes, into the Rare Book Room of the Museum’s Harl V. Brackin library to find an object that predates the US Constitution.

Located in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, an exhibit space dedicated to modern space exploration, you’ll find the youngest artifact in our collection: An American flag flown to space on the historic Blue Origin New Shepard NS-3 Launch. In today’s episode of the Flight Deck, we’ll take a look at the flag and it’s story, and also learn why stories are at the heart of any museum…and how the stories told in museums have changed over time.

Mike Mullane grew up a child of the space race and realized his dream of space flight as an astronaut for the Space Shuttle program. In today’s interview, which was recorded as part of a Trivia Night program the Museum put on, he takes questions from the audience about his training and experiences in weightlessness. He also helps us answer a few trivia questions about life as an astronaut. Can you get all of the correct answers before he does?

Host Sean Mobley brings the second part of this behind-the-scenes mini-series featuring the “extremes” of the Museum of Flight’s collection. Today we’re staying very close to home on our Museum of Flight campus to look at our Biggest artifact, something so big that moving it took boats, barges, and cranes!

Host Sean Mobley brings us part one of an all-new mini-series featuring The Museum of Flight’s most extreme artifacts. In this series you will uncover the smallest, largest, oldest and youngest objects in our collection. Join us for a journey of wonderment and surprise as we discuss some of our most unique artifacts!

This week we are honored to speak with Museum of Flight docent and Holocaust survivor, Pete Metzelaar. Listen as he describes his first-hand account of the devastating sound of war planes flying over Holland during World War II, and his journey to freedom.

This week’s episode of the Flight Deck Podcast is the first in a series associated with the Museum wide initiative to feature untold stories in honor of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. Today you will hear from Museum docent Reiner Decher who was a young boy in Germany during WWII. Reiner recalls the end of the war through the eyes of a child, escaping Germany with his family through Operation Paperclip. Reiner’s father worked in aviation developing cutting edge technology for Junkers Aircraft and Motorworks. After the war, Russia and the United States wanted to employ the greatest German scientists and engineers, Reiner’s Father was one of those selected.

We dive into part two of our interview with Museum docent and Air Force Colonel Peggy Phillips. Peggy remembers her time in the military flying C-141 cargo airplanes, eventually transitioning to C-17 aircraft in 2001 where she became the first female C-17 squadron commander.

Peggy Phillips and the WASPs by The Museum of Flight