MSI Exhibit / Transportation Gallery — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

Chicago’s Iconic Museum of Science and Industry

A too-brief visit in 2015 in raw capture with a glorified point-and-shoot

Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry is one of the greats in the United States. My late bride and I managed a too-brief visit late in 2015. Daphne hadn’t the stamina to stay long, but it was a place she loved. I want to go back. There are few things I like better than shooting in museums. Any museums. Lurves me my museums. Plus I have a better kit now.

WELCOME to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Stitched panorama by © Charles G. Haacker

Entering the Transportation Gallery — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

I always gravitate to the Transportation Gallery because of airplanes. And a super-fast 4–4–0 American pattern engine that broke 100 mph. And the Piccard Gondola in which —

Dr. Auguste Piccard and his team tried to break the world altitude record by hydrogen-filled balloon at the 1933 exposition, A Century of Progress. The attempt failed, but Piccard later set the mark at 61,237 feet. — (website)

Diving straight at you with its terror sirens shrieking is a 1941 Junkers Ju-87R-2 Tropical Stuka dive bomber, one of only two surviving Stukas in the world.

Yes, Virginia, that is an honest-to-Pete United Airlines Boeing 727 that you can physically board and learn things about modern aviation.

The 999 Steam Locomotive was a new concept in speed locomotives. Engine 999 was assigned to haul the New York Central Railroad’s brilliant new passenger train, the Empire State Express. On May 10, 1893, the 999 became the fastest land vehicle when it reached a record speed of 112.5 mph. The 999 maintained the record for a decade. — MSI Website — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

These 0–4–0 locomotives date from 1831 and 1834. The B&O YORK on the left and the MISSISSIPPI on the right. The Mississippi’s horizontal boiler arrangement became the standard pattern. — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

Exhibit / The Great Train Story: from Chicago to Seattle on more than 1,400 feet of H.O. track. — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

Take the model railroad trip that can whisk you cross-country in minutes, or fascinate you for hours.

Whether for global shipping or personal adventures, the railroad doesn’t just move people and things — it has long reflected our nation’s character and ambitions. Ride along as The Great Train Story presents 2,200 miles of scenery and stories from Chicago to Seattle along 1,400 feet of winding track. People say that things look different from a train. From these trains, the view is amazing. — from the MSI website.

A Chicago horsecar and The Pioneer Zephyr — ALL ABOARD THE SILVER STREAK! — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

On May 26, 1934, a gleaming new [diesel-electric] train named for a Greek god of wind began a nonstop “Dawn to Dusk” speed run from Denver to Chicago. The Zephyr completed the trip in just over 13 hours, ushering in a new height of train travel and style. Its sleek Art Deco form was soon to be mirrored in everyday items from transportation to toasters. — from the MSI website

The Burlington Route was the direct antecedent of the Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe, more commonly known as the BNSF, with trains running all over the nation. Railfans like to pronounce BNSF as “Bin-Sniff.”

Chicago Scenes and Suburbs — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

The United 727 on approach to O’Hare.

— Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

See the “wingwalker” on an inverted 1917 Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny,”

See the “wingwalker” on an inverted 1917 Curtiss JN-4D “Jenny,” You didn’t have to be crazy to do this in the post-Great War years, but it helped. They still do it at airshows (and why I don’t go to airshows).

The Supermarine Mark 1A Spitfire, wing guns blazing, in hot pursuit of the German Junkers Ju-87R-2 Stuka dive bomber. Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

The swastikas on the Spitfire’s cowling show that this airplane and pilot have shot down five German aircraft. — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

Appropriately taking point in the east balcony of the Transportation Gallery is a carefully crafted replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer. The first such replica in the U.S. to achieve powered flight during the centennial year of the Wright Brothers’ first flight, the biplane dubbed “The Spirit of Glen Ellyn,” provides an up-close glimpse of the reality and daring of those first innovative flights. — from the MSI Website. — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

The Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of survivors of torpedoings and the hunter-killer D.D.s and D.E.s that protected the convoys.

The story of the capture of U-505 is as thrilling an adventure yarn as you will ever hear. It is well worth reading in the Wikipedia article.

U-505 is a German Type IXC submarine built for Germany’s Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was captured by the U.S. Navy on June 4, 1944 (WIKIPEDIA). — Photos by © Charles G. Haacker

See the holes in the conning tower? The boat was depth-charged to the surface and fired upon by DE-149 USS Chatelain with her 3-inch “popguns.”

A U.S. Navy boarding party working to secure a tow line to the bow of the captured German submarine U-505, 4 June 1944 (80-G-49172) U.S. Navy photo Public Domain

The boarding party from USS Chatelain (DE-149). Nine guys risked their lives to close the seacocks and disable the scuttling charges inside the rapidly flooding U-505 before she could sink, taking her Enigma code machine with her. It was a selfless act to help end the war. The boat could have taken them all to the bottom.

The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Chatelain (DE-149) underway with survivors of the captured German submarine U-505 on her forecastle, June 4, 1944. Wikipedia, Public Domain. US Navy photo.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photo essay. If you are in Chicago with some time on your hands, I very much recommend a visit to the museum. Give it as much time as you can. It reminds me of the Smithsonian, which cannot be done in a single day.

Thanks for reading!