We spent an entire day at the PIMA Air and Space Museum.
Over 300 airplanes are displayed outside and in four hangers.
The 390th Memorial Museum is on the grounds of the PIMA Museum. The Museum honors the 390th B-17 bombardment group, many of whom died while flying missions in World War II.
This is a fully restored B-17 also known as the "Flying Fortress". There were 12,731 built. This is one of only 39 remaining.
Tail gun on the B-17.
The Ball Turret gunner was picked for his slight size.
Two Waist Gunners manned the 50 caliber guns in the middle of the B-17.
Besides those guns, there is a top turret gun, nose gun, and chin gun. Even at that, most of the B-17's were lost flying missions during WWII.
Many planes were displayed outside.
Three from the Presidents fleet were on display. The center plane was used by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
The Classic B-52
Blue Angels F/A-18A Hornet
The Liberator B-24
Super Fortress B-29
Navy Corsair
We took two hours out of the middle of the day to take an additional special bus tour of the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) also known as the "Graveyard of Planes" or "The Boneyard". It was required to buy our tickets at least two weeks in advance in order to complete security clearance before ticketing. This was necessary because AMARG is on the neighboring Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. There are over 4,000 planes mothballed here. Some awaiting re-service into the fleet and others being cannibalized for parts as needed.
This C-9 aka The Vomit Comet is used for astronaut weightless training.
We saw 310 C-130 wrapped up and stored for later.
Meanwhile back at the PIMA Museum
Huey Irocouis Helicopter
Grumman F-14 Tom Cat, used in the movie "Top Gun".
2 comments:
This place looks amazing. Did you get off the bus when you took your AMARG tour? Pretty serious business when you have to go through a background check.
I'm enjoying the blog. Yall are going to some very interesting places.
Thanks Teri. They only time we got off the bus was when the bus was searched. But we loved the museum. Really suggest visiting Chiricahua, it was amazing.
Post a Comment