A Quick Trip to the Pima Air and Space Museum and AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center)
Pima Air and Space Museum: Home of the SR-71. LA to New York in Under an Hour.
The Pima Air and Space Museum, located in Tucson, AZ, is the third largest air and space museum in the country and the largest privately supported ... that is to say, no tax dollars. It's made up of about 75 acres of out-door area with several hangers. Three of the hangers are dedicated to WWII aircraft, however, there are examples of everything from a Wright Flyer (replica of the 1903 "first flight" jobber) to aircraft currently in military and civilian service.
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Hi. It's me again, this time playing hooky from the Office Products Intelligence Report (OPI) ... at least for the day. I'm indulging the Walter Mitty in me that sometimes fantasizes about being a WWII pilot complete with fleece lined leather flight jacket, a jaunty slouch officers cap and a bunch of "rising-sun" insignia neatly stenciled on the fuselage. |
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There are about 190 individual aircraft parked on the 70-some-odd acres of the museum. If you look closely, you can see some people walking toward the planes in the background. They give some scale to the size of the museum. |
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The star and a little of the D-Day striping on the side of one of my favorite aircraft - the C-47 (DC-3 in civilian clothes). Designed in the 1930's, the plane was "over-engineered" and damned near indestructible. Believe it or not, there are examples of the Dakota still gainfully employed today. I hope I can still be useful when I'm in my 70's. |
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Air Force 1 on Display |
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We were fortunate to stumble on the Museum
while they had a number of the past presidential fleet on display. "Air Force 1" is technically any aircraft the president is on. Once the president disembarks from the airplane, it's designation reverts to the standard tail number of the aircraft. Here are five presidential rides, all in a circle. Working from left to right are 707 used by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Reagan. Behind that is the DC-6 used by Kennedy. Kennedy also used a 707 - that particular aircraft is on display in Dayton, OH. Following around the circle is a small, executive type plane - I didn't get the model, an Army 'chopper used for quick hops to Camp David and Eisenhower's Constellation, "Columbine" |
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Here's the flight deck of the DC-6 version of Air Force 1. The hundreds of pounds of radio equipment on the DC-6 have been replaced with a single integrated chip weighing several ounces. |
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How many recall that President Eisenhower used
a Constellation (aka: Connie) named "Columbine" before presidential planes
were designated "Air Force 1" when the president was aboard? Here, high and proud above the runway, is the "Columbine". The "Columbine" is in it's full, bright aluminum skin. The two tone blue on silver that graces the current presidential fleet is a color scheme compliments of Jackie Kennedy. |
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Eisenhower was the Five Star General who commanded the allied European theater of action during the Second World War. His Five Star plaque is emblazoned on the side of the "Columbine". |
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This is a picture of a Russian made MiG-15 with North Korean markings. It was a real surprise to our fliers when it was introduced during the Korean War in the early 1950's |
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Here's a MiG-17 with Russian markings. I was very surprised at the collection of MiGs at the Pima Aerospace Museum. The collection includes two variants of the MiG=15, two variants of the MiG-17 and a MiG-21. |
AMARC(Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center) Silent Testament to a World at War |
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AMARC, a tenant organization at the Davis-Monthan AFB (across the street from the Pima Aerospace Museum) is made up of 2,700 acres devoted to refurbishing, maintaining, decommissioning, scrapping and the sale of military aircraft, whole and as parts. The organization does on the order of $500,000,000 worth of business a year and is probably the only moneymaking group in the DOD. |
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Our cast-offs are the fodder for the front line
air forces of many countries. There are over 5,000 aircraft at AMARC at any
given time. About 20% are returned to active service with our armed forces.
The rest are sold to other countries or cut up for parts or simply scrapped. The Sonora Desert is the perfect place for storage of this kind. With low humidity, there is almost no deterioration while the hard packed caliiche soil makes it possible to move and park the inventory without having to pour concrete parking areas. A bus ride around the re-cycle facility gives on a real insight into the phrase "unimaginable military might". Before 9/11, one could get off the bus to take pictures. One of the effects of terrorism is that we must stay on the bus. Certainly one freedom has been taken away. |