The fabulous flying boats of the Solent Sky museum - CNET

But as soon as you move closer to it, the true focal point of the museum can't be ignored. The Sandringham Short, converted from one of the Sunderland military flying boats previously operated by the Royal Air Force, dominates the hangar. It's barely smaller than the museum itself. Most of the museum's collection sits comfortably under the wings of the Short. Others hang from the ceiling, or are on the partial floors above that act as additional museum space as well as viewing platforms of the aircraft.

Before you board the Short, a look around is in order. It's an interesting mix of planes. A de Havilland Vampire sits across from a Sea Vixen. A Spitfire sits next to a S.6 racer. A propped-up space suit stands across from two training cockpits, one for a Supermarine Swift and one for a Harrier.

Upstairs there's a mix of uniforms and dioramas of various aspects of military and aviation life.

It's the Short, though, that makes the museum worth the trip. I love flying boats, they're just so bizarre, and evoke such a romantic (and largely apocryphal) interbellum period. Movies like "Temple of Doom" come to mind, as do TV shows like my beloved "TaleSpin."

This particular example was owned by Charles Blair, Jr., third husband of Maureen O'Hara. When he owned it, it was called "Southe Cross," though before and after, it was named "Beachcomber." Up the stairs and inside, it's a fascinating step back in time. A tiny bathroom wouldn't look out of place in mode aircraft, except for the window (why don't mode planes have windows in the bathroom?).

The seats, facing each other in small rooms, look about the same size as coach on current airplanes, just far more padded. The big oval windows have amusing instructions would seem out of place on anything but a Boeing 787.

Upstairs, a galley looks like a cross between one you'd find on a boat, and one on a plane. Fitting, that.

The cockpit is only accessible if someone from the museum guides you up, largely because it's not easy to access. A narrow hatch at the top of a narrower ladder gets you up to the flight deck. It's the same level as the galley, which you can see through a window if you look aft. Some vestiges of the aircraft's former life as a military aircraft remain, including a radio operator and a hole where the bubble turret was once mounted.

You can sit in the seats, and look out, letting you (OK, me) imagine hopping from island to island in the South Pacific, hauling cargo or people, having adventures that almost certainly would never have happened.