The Intrepid is a retired aircraft carrier that now houses one of New York’s more unusual museums. The ship served during World War II and later during the Cold War before it was saved from the scrapyard and turned into a floating museum at Pier 86 in Hell’s Kitchen.
With a background as an airline pilot, places like this are naturally fascinating to me, even though I’ve never really been a hardcore av geek. Still, you don’t need to know anything about aviation to enjoy it. Up on the flight deck there’s a whole lineup of military aircraft and helicopters, and seeing them parked across the massive deck with the Manhattan skyline rising behind them is a pretty striking sight.
If you’re more Star Trek than Top Gun, make sure to visit the Space Shuttle Pavilion, where Enterprise is on display. Enterprise was NASA’s space shuttle prototype. It never made it into space but was used for a series of atmospheric test flights before being returned to NASA. Seeing it up close was probably my favorite part of the museum, and yes, I left the gift shop with a NASA T shirt.
Out on the pier next to the carrier there’s also a Concorde from British Airways, so after finishing the tour of the aircraft on board, that was my next stop. Concorde has always seemed like one of the coolest machines ever built, and I even have a book about it at home, so seeing one up close was quite amazing. Supersonic commercial flight, how awesome is that?
The museum ticket also includes access to the submarine Growler, which is docked alongside the carrier. The line was long when I visited, and I was more in the mood for planes than submarines, so I decided to save that part for another time.
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, W 46th St & 12th Ave, Hell’s Kitchen, New York
