Air, space and museeums

Washington has it all - lots of skies and air, spacious surroundings and loads of museums. They even have a museum for the combination, namely the Air and space museum. I visited the part near Dulles airport today, after seeing my colleague off on his flight.

Anyway, while I was there I discovered that the new fighter plane that Norway has committed to buying is already in the museum, as can be seen in the picture on the right.

Before Norway decided to buy this vaporware there was fierce competition between the JAS, the Eurofighter and the JSF. While the first two are available and in operation, the JSF is still "in the works". But to my knowledge, the two european alternatives have not ended up in museums yet. They are even busy over North Africa these days!

So are the Norwegian authorities aware that they have wasted my tax money on a museum exhibit, or don't they care?

The site I visited is called the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It opened in 2003. I remember visiting the original museum in downtown D.C. in 1984, but maybe I should go there again to refresh my memory. I guess they have a lot more exhibits that will be great to see.