Day 9 Part 2 - Pima Air & Space Museum/Davis Monthan AFB "Boneyard"
I drove through Tucson to the Pima Air & Space Museum which I had heard about but never been to.  The museum consisted of one very large building, four large buildings and then hundreds of planes sitting outside on static display.  They have a restaurant in the museum.
   
I liked the nose art on this Navy S-3 Viking.
   
A shiney F-14 Tomcat with sharks teeth on the nose.  Nice.
   
The Tomcat's back seat.  I had a chance to become an F-14 RIO.  I wonder how different my life would have been had I gone that route?
   
What I liked about this museum was the variety of airplanes.  This particular Beechcraft Bonanza was owned and flown by Marion Rice Hart.  The plane was modified for long distance flights and she flew it solo over every continent except Antartica.  She flew seven solo Atlantic Ocean crossing flights, the first at the age of 74!
   
You can see the variety of airplanes behind this little exhibit featuring Robert Duvall's character LtCol Kilgore in Apocalypse Now.   In the movie, Duvall's character had some memorable lines like "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" and "Someday this wars gonna end ..."
   
A sleek Mig-17 hangs overhead.
   
There were even homebuilts like this single-seat Evans VP-1 Volksplane.  It is made of wood and fabric, was built in 1978 and flew for a number of owners until 1986.  It is powered by a little -- you guessed it -- Volkwagen engine.  A few hundred were built.
   
It's hard to believe but both the Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds once flew the F-4 Phantom.  I saw them fly as a kid.
   
This is the tail section of a B-52.  Did you know the B-52 actually had rear machine guns.  Check out the four barrells bottom right.  They actually shot down a few MiGs with them during the Vietnam war.
   
Well, this is something I've never seen before.  It's a B-57 nuclear weapon.  At one time the P-3 Orion was equipped to carry them as an anti-submarine weapon.  Thankfully, it was a weapon which was never used.  Halfway through my first P-3 squadron tour they discontinued it.  We were all happy because just having the capability required a lot of effort in terms of training and paperwork.
   
Inside another building was the WWII stuff including this B-24 Liberator.
   
An immaculate P-39 Airacobra.
   
While the Airacobra wasn't a very good fighter -- although the Soviets who received many of them via Lend Lease liked it -- it is an interesting airplane in that the engine is behind the cockpit.
   
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The big B-29 SuperFortress.
   
Outside were hundreds of planes parked on the hard dirt.  Despite the brutal heat, I walked the entire line!
   
The plane types ranged from this gigantic B-36 Peacemaker to ...
   
... this itty-bitty Cessna 150.  Which is the plane I learned to fly in, by the way.
   
 
Another Air Force bomber you don't see very often:  a B-47 Stratojet.   This medium bomber entered service in 1951, only six years after World War II, and was in use until the mid-60s.  A little over 2,000 were built, which is an amazingly large number.  In comparison, only 100 B-1 bombers were built, and only 20 B-2 stealth-bombers.  (Of course, the B-2 does cost close to $1B a plane)
   
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P11
   
I've always liked the looks of this B-58 Hustler.  It just looks fast.  And in fact it could go Mach 2.   It replaced the B-47 Stratojet but 116 were built and they only served between 1960 and 1970.  The B-58 was replaced by the F-111.
   
MiG Alley:  17, 21, 27.
   
The Soviet Mi-24 Hind which looks like a big, vicious insect.  Rambo flew helicopter in Rambo 3.
   
This Lightning was Britain's primary interceptor for two decades (60s - 70s) although the Royal Saudi Air Force also flew it.  337 were built.
   
The mighty B-17 Flying Fortress.
   
This pictures gives a good overview of the outside area.
   
And this one.
   

I have long wanted to see the famous airplane "Boneyard".  But the Pima Air & Space Museum is not the same thing as the David-Monthan Air Force Base "Boneyard".  However, a one-hour bus tour of the Boneyard is offered from the museum.  Security was tight;  only military-ID card holders are allowed on the tour.   The bus was nice and most importantly, air conditioned.  A knowledgeable docent talked to us the entire tour, which was very interesting and well worth the time.

Squadrons of P-3 Orions stand silent sentinal.
   
More T-34s sit here than you will see in a mass formation at Oshkosh.
 
The Boneyard is not really a place where planes just sit and rust away.  (Like you see at some airports) First of all, there is so little rainfall here that they don't rust.  Secondly, the technicians at this Air Force Base can bring an airplane back to service within a week.  Finally, the planes are a source of parts for planes of the same type still flying.
 
 
   
Big C-5As.
 
The most numerous plane here is the F-4 Phantom.  But almost all modern U.S. military planes can be found here:  F-18, F-15, F-16, F-111, C-5, P-3, H-60s, A-10, C-130, KC-135, KC-10, B-1, you name it.
   
Even the F-117 stealth fighter was here.  Of course, you can't see it.  It's stealthy.
   
 
   
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