Pima Air & Space Museum
One of the largest air & space museums in the world, the exhibit covers over 80 acres and carries over 300 aircraft.
The space gallary is a fascinating display of X-planes & outer space, technology and you view the inside of training version of the Apollo capsule (he actual model was used to film the movie Apollo 13).
Be prepared to spend several hours and at the end, have information overload. . . a truly fascinating visit to all types of air travel through history, from the U.S. and all over the world.
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| A view of the boneyard (photo courtesy of the museum) |
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| 750 lb bomb (80 could be carried) |
B52D Bomber (1956-present) - wingspan of 185 feet, speed of 650 mph, this huge bird could carry up to 54,000 lbs of bombs (equivalen to three WWII B-17s). The B52 bombers dropped thousands of bombs on Vietnam targets.
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| Boeing Super Guppy |
46 feet tall with speeds of 300 mph these planes proved to be very useful for carrying segments of rockets and much of the Saturn rocket that powered the Apollo Program. The Super Guppy was used on 1991 by Nasa, then retired and replaced by a younger version.
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| Iroquois Bell Helicopter Made famous by its use in Vietnam, the Bell helicopter is the most famous in the world. Versions of the "Huey" are still utilized today. The Huey has also been famous the movies such as "Apocalypse Now" and the series "Mash."  The Sikorsky (heavy-lift helicopter) caught the interest of the military; they started flying them in 1962. The military called them "Tahre" & they served in the final years of the Vietnam war, retiring in the 1990s. Skycranes have found new uses in civilian hands being widely used for fighting forest fires and as heavy lift aircraft for erecting electrical towers and in the timber industry. |
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| Sentimental Journey |
In 1945 forty-seven bombing missions against Japan occured. The "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima with more than 15,000 tons of TNT causing over 100,000 casualties. When "Fat Man" was dropped, Nagasaki disappeared.
The Liberator was used primarily as anti-sub and anti-shipping roles & made a major conribution to the allied victory of the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-Boats. In all, 18,482 of these planes were built during WW II, making it the most produced aircraft during the war.
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| View of the turret on the front of the plane |
The smallest personnel would be enlisted to operate the tail gunner (generally no one over 5'10" & 160 lbs). Due to the small size of the 'bubble' below & at the back of the plane, there was no room for a parachute. The soldier would enter the turret during flight (the turret rotates & retracts into the fuselage) & in case of emergency, the turret would be retracted & the hatch opened within the plane. Frostbite complaints were not uncommon. The gunner would fire twin 50-caliber guns (500 rounds per gun were stored in the turret).
Ever wonder where the expression "whole nine yards" came from?
Perhaps the most common explanation is that World War II (1939-1945) gunners would supposedly "give them the full nine yards" by firing an aircraft's entire ammunition belt at the enemy, the belt supposedly being nine yards long.
Personal Flying Machine . . . ?
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| Hoppicopter |
Maybe this is the wave of the future . . . low on fuel! And you wouldn't have to worry about traffic jams.
The Hoppicopter actually was developed in WWII (Horace Pentacost of Seattle in 1945) as a replacement for the paratroops during the war. Only problem was having the use the human legs for landing gear as, if you stumble during take-off or landing, the blades became thousands of tiny splinters.
This is just a small taste of what you see in a day or several hours at the museum. If interested in more information on their exhibits go to website: http://www.pimaair.org/view.php?pg=21
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