Memorable Times at the Midway Museum

A Cultural Experience Kids Will Enjoy!

by Vickie Oddino

My five-year-old son James pushed aside veterans, moms, teenagers, and boy scouts in an effort to get a closer look at the controls in the pilot house of the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier, docked at Navy Pier on San Diego Bay. The museum website suggests two and a half hours to complete the tour of the craft. We gave ourselves three. But this turned out to be a mistake. At 5:00 pm, three hours after arriving, the ship shut down ... and we weren't finished yet!

Climbing aboard the Midway is an opportunity to enter a world we might see on television but may know little about. The Midway, often called Midway Magic for its impressive history, is the longest serving carrier in naval history, serving 47 years from the end of World War II through Desert Storm.

Every summer I drag my kids around, trying to ensure they have adequate exposure to the cultural offerings of Southern California. We have visited the Getty, the Science Center, the Natural History Museum, and the Reagan Library. My kids are good sports: they accompany me with few complaints.

But when I heard that the Midway was now open to visitors, I knew we had to go. My kids had recently watched a Disney Channel movie set on an aircraft carrier, Tiger Cruise. Both my son and daughter were fascinated with the carrier. Now they would have the opportunity to actually see an F-14 Tomcat, to touch the bunks where the men slept, to climb into the captain's chair, to imagine the force of the catapult, to peer into the UH-1 Huey helicopter, and to finger the arresting wires.

Upon boarding the carrier, we were each handed a headset and a map of the craft so that we could begin our self-tour. We have been to other museums and been given headsets, but my kids grew tired of them as soon as they realized they would have to carry them around. But not this time. They would not relinquish their headsets until we left.

Especially James. He wandered off ahead of my daughter and me, headsets covering his ears and protectively holding the program box. And at only five, he knew exactly how to work it. Much to my daughter Emily's frustration, he wanted to listen to the explanations and descriptions of everything from fighter jets to bunks to the galley. But he also wanted to hear the extra information provided on the headsets - the personal recollections told by veterans who served on the Midway.

Many of the docents aboard the craft served on aircraft carriers themselves and retell stories that bring the carrier, the jets, and the controls to life. One veteran, now a docent for the Midway Museum, relayed stories of the dangerous mission of landing aboard a carrier.

On that beautiful San Diego day, we also took the opportunity to sip on a smoothie on deck, overlooking the bay and imagining what it must have been like to have been on this deck when the Midway was in its heyday and planes were taking off and landing at a frenzied pace.

For more information about the Midway museum and its history, call 619 544-9600 or visit www.midway.org.