When next in Destin…
When bopping around the West Florida panhandle and looking to scratch a military history stuff itch, besides the extensive coastal fortifications around Pensacola (Forts Pickens and Barrancas along with their nearby Advanced Redoubt and WWII beach batteries) and the National Naval Aviation Museum, closer to Eglin AFB there is the excellent Air Force Armament Museum.
There is also a great aviation park that has been off limits to the public since 9/11– the Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park.
Dedicated to the USAAF’s and USAF’s Air Commandos and maintained by the secret squirrels of the Air Force Special Operations Command, it has several rare COIN and SOF aircraft on display as well as numerous memorial markers spanning from WWII through more recent adventures in the sandbox.
They have a C-46 Commando and C-47, MH-53M and MH-60 Pave Lows, a Psy-Op Huey, A-1G Skyraider, an A-26K Counter Invader, O1s and O2s, an RF-4C, AC-119G Shadow gunship, AC-130A Spectre gunship “Ultimate End,” an OV-10 Bronco, and CH-3 Jolly Green, among some 20 types on display. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Christopher Callaway)
Gratefully to anyone passing through who didn’t already have a CAC card, it is set to reopen to the general public on Wednesday 10 April.