Wedell-Williams Aviation Museum

Wednesday we went to Patterson to this wonderful museum and then to Rita Mae’s Kitchen for a great lunch.

From their website I took their description:

“The Wedell-Williams Aviation Collection focuses on the legacy of Louisiana aviation pioneers Jimmie Wedell and Harry Williams who formed an air service in Patterson in the 1928. Both men became nationally prominent during what was known as the Golden Age of Aviation. Although both Wedell and Williams perished in plane crashes, their legacy lives on in the memorabilia and planes on display.”

      

In the film they told the story through the eyes of Mary (May) Haizlip, a 19 year old who received the second woman’s commercial pilot’s license.

There was three screens projecting the film and at times a plane would fly from the right screen to the center screen and out the left screen.  When they showed a shot up in the cockpit there was a blast of air blown on you. There was a scene of a thunderstorm and we actually expected to feel water sprayed at us.  Excellent, excellent film.

The planes were all replicas except for Gilmore’s  #121, which is his actual plane.

We couldn’t believe how small the cockpits were in these racing planes.

Fascinating to see Wedell’s actual log book, which even included the flight in which he was killed in 1934.

 

Next to the aviation museum was Cypress Sawmill Museum with all kinds of original pieces of equipment used in that industry here in Louisiana.

Huge cistern for a railroad station out of cypress	Saw with a car wheel used to rotate it
800 year old cypress log hollowed out	Here I am to give you a perceptive of how large it is.
Log mover	This is a Spanish Moss Gin. Who knew there was an industry out of gathering and “ginning” moss. Heard Henry Ford used moss to stuff his car seats.

After the museums we drove into Morgan City to have lunch at Rita Mae’s Kitchen.  It is an amazing family run restaurant located in a house where each room has been turned into a dining area.  See more at the end of a blog post I did back in March 2011 under the heading “Oil Drilling Rig Museum” when we also went to Rita Mae’s to eat.

I had the crab burger, but ate it without the bun so it was more like a crab cake….delicious

That was Wednesday, so I am already behind in my blog…dang it…oh, well more to come.

Remember, you are loved.