Hidden Gems of Hartford and Tolland Counties

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — To get to the latest Hidden Gem, one must pass an airport, get into a hangar and hover to a far corner of said hangar.

There, at the New England Air Museum, is something that one volunteer scholar said simply, "terrified German U-Boat crews" during World War II.

It's the Navy ZNP-K control car, an aircraft that hung below a 252-foot-long blimp used as an anti-submarine convoy escort and spotter along the North Atlantic coast. It could easily pickup up U-Boat shadows while cruising at less than 70 MPH, the scholar said.

Its Connecticut connections were Pratt & Whitney engines and Hamilton Standard propellers. It is the only one of three put into service that made it to a museum intact, the scholar said.

Here are the particulars of the ZNP-K:

(Chris Dehn el/Patch)

Oh ... and last Saturday ... when the air museum reopened, an inqisitive fourth-grader asked about the pipe in the rear of the aircraft that seemingly led to nowhere. The scholar answered it's not the end, but the beginning of the pipe that completes the question and quietly pointed to the head compartment. He then quipped, "They DID things differently in the 1940s."

That prompted a loud "ewww" from the student.

The craft later made it to the Goodyear fleet.

The New England Air Museum can be a bit tricky to find at 36 Perimeter Road in Windsor Locks, despite it being next to Bradley International Airport. Once there, visitors quickly discover it is loaded with aviation history.

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The Hidden Gems series features out-of-the-way mom and pop restaurants, small specialty stores you may have never heard of, little-known historical markers or beautiful nature spots that may be a bit off the beaten path, all located within Hartford and Tolland counties. Do you have a favorite "hidden gem" in the area that you wish to see featured in this column? Email your ideas to tim.jensen@patch.com.

Other columns in this series:

• Rosedale Farms & Vineyards
• Nathan Hale Homestead
• Burke Ridge Farms
• Necker's Toyland
• Civil War Monument at Mt. Hope Cemetery
• Gene Pitney Memorial Benches
• Joe McCluskey/Manchester Road Race Statue
• Samuel Field Knight Historic Marker
• Carol's Lunchbox
• Country Casuals
• Dakota Restaurant
• Country Cobbler
• Beau's Burger Shack
• Daniel Glazier Tavern
• Mount Southington Ski School
• Awards & More
• Marquis de Lafayette Monument
• The Little Red Store
• River Bend Bookshop
• Gerry's Donuts
• Traveler Restaurant
• First Decorated Christmas Tree
• The Stanley-Whitman House
• Vernon's Santa House
• Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut
• Old Country Banquet Hall
• Brazilian Gula Grill
• Thomas' Smokey Pit Stop
• Congregational Church of Burlington labyrinth
• Noah Webster House
• The Bushnell's Green Room Wall
• Belding Wildlife Management Area
• The Aborn Castle
• Heublein Tower
• Birthplace of Jonathan Edwards
• Grave of Revolutionary War Soldier Heman Baker
• Jessica's Garden, Lobster and Ice Cream Shack
• Shade Swamp Sanctuary
• Ken's Corner Breakfast & Lunch
• Tolland Red and White
• The Packing House
• Cold Harbor Seafood
• Nye Holman State Forest/Heron Cove Park
• Hosmer Mountain Soda Shack
• Connecticut Trolley Museum
• Matterhorn Mini Golf
• Wood Memorial Library & Museum
• Hastings Farm
• Liquid Nirvana
• Iwo Jima Survivors Memorial Park
• Academy Hall
• Southington Drive-In
• Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall
• Somersvillage Gifts & Gourmet Baskets
• New England Civil War Museum
• The Pinchot Sycamore
• Stafford Palace Theater
• Mansfield Hollow State Park
• Old Tolland County Jail and Museum
• Hill-Stead Museum
• Mark's Restaurant

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