My dad and I took my two boys (8 and 5 years old) to visit Fort Vancouver and the Pearson Air Museum today. This was my first time to the P.A.M. and I was very pleased with our visit.
For my dad (with the senior citizen discount), me (with the military discount), and two kids, it cost us $15 to get in, and it was very much worth the price of admission. Right after we paid and walked into the hanger, I was a little disappointed at how small it seemed and thought we wouldn't be spending much time there, but my initial impression was all wrong. There is a LOT of stuff to see, read, and a few things to actually do hands-on.
I actually had to drag my boys out of the museum when we wanted to get home before the rush hour traffic started. For them, their favorite parts were trying to land an airplane on the model aircraft carrier, sitting in the kid sized airplane and helicopter that made sounds and had moving control surfaces, and operating the model airplane up on the second floor balcony. There is also a side room full of computers with flight simulators, but I did not point that out to my boys - we NEVER would have gotten out of there if I had.
My favorite parts were reading about LT Pearson's career in aviation and how it was intertwined with other famous people like Doolittle and Eisenhower. I also enjoyed learning about the types of wood that were best for making airplanes and about the spruce trees used for making airplanes in WWI. Having just read a book about the Lafayette Escadrille (American squadron in WWI before the US joined the war), and watched the movie Flyboys, I thought it was cool to see the Fokker DR-1 in the museum. The exhibit on the flying boats / Pan Am Clippers was pretty interesting, too.
While this museum may be small, there is a lot packed into it. It's very nicely done and was totally worth the price of admission. read more