Out and about: Pima Air and Space Museum

…
Still like the B-24.
Andy

In that case, Andy, you may enjoy this link, about that particular B-24:

http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/ovb24-3.html

Regards,

Snoopy

C-133 at Pima

I have time in C-133B 90527, as a navigator in the 84th Military Airlift Sq, Travis AFB, CA, 69-71. The airplane at Pima is is decent shape, except for the rudder that was removed after windstorm damage. In 2000, I was fortunate to get inside. Lots of dust and everything plastic or rubber is turning to more dust in the heat. The museum will never be able to restore all of those airplanes. When I was there, they had just taken a Douglas B-23 out fo the paint shop. Spotless and pretty.

If you want to see a C-133 that looks externally just as it did on the Travis ramp, go to the Air Mobility Command Museum, Dover AFB, DE. It is in excellent shape outside and the cockpit is prettier that Douglas ever intended. It was moved from The SAC Museum in 2002, reassembled by the mover, then the AMC crowd has been working on it.

For those who want more info on the C-133, check out my website, which has a lot of what is in my forthcoming book. Remembering an Unsung Giant: The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster and Its People.

I will merely joke that it just showed that we used stealth technology before the US Air Force…:D:D:D

Flood

The stealth worked, I’ve never seen a Stirling… 🙂

Victim of another Labour government cancellation?
TSR.2 and P1154 perhaps? :dev2:

I will merely joke that it just showed that we used stealth technology before the US Air Force…:D:D:D
Should I qualify that by saying that RAF Bomber Command flew mainly by night and thus painted their aircraft with black undersides, whilst the the American aircraft flew mainly by day and (admittedly towards the last year of the war) didn’t bother with camouflage?;)

Flood

Thks flood, if I remember, it is a Sweicher sailplane with the engine mounted on top behing the canopy and driving an overheas shaft propeller

:confused::confused::confused:



Or see here.
A little digging brings up that it is c/n 007, s/n 69-18006, which served in Vietnam around 1970-72, before being registered as N14425 by the Louisana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and later by the FBI.

Flood

Just one more; this is a display case in a barracks hut.
Colonial Bird pointed it out to me (it was the only empty case that I saw there).

Flood

Victim of another Labour government cancellation?
TSR.2 and P1154 perhaps? :dev2:

Just one more; this is a display case in a barracks hut.
Colonial Bird pointed it out to me (it was the only empty case that I saw there).

Flood

Nope – first visit was in October and the temperature only reached 100f, second visit (on Tuesday) was quite a bit cooler but still just as bright. I was the pasty-white fella with a big smile, wearing shorts and sandles (with socks, of course), a knotted handkerchief on his head and face rapidly going lobster red…
Flood

Glad to see you survived…. There were times in the summer I wondered if I would make it. I’d head to one of the sun shelters and get a Coke…that and go into the display buildings/hangars fairly often.
I see some new exhibits…I’ll have to go back.

A few more…
The first one is a former NASA bird (by the look of it); would this be one of the ‘Vomit Comets’? It is marked N931NA.

Flood

I was the pasty-white fella with a big smile, wearing shorts and sandles (with socks, of course), a knotted handkerchief on his head and face rapidly going lobster red…

Flood

Umm, that’s a lie! I wouldn’t have been seen in public with him otherwise! 😉 😀 :rolleyes:

And Flood, if you thought it was warm in Tucson this time of year, you ought to try the summer. I thought you Englishmen were made of ‘sterner stuff’. 🙂
[/B]

Nope – first visit was in October and the temperature only reached 100f, second visit (on Tuesday) was quite a bit cooler but still just as bright. I was the pasty-white fella with a big smile, wearing shorts and sandles (with socks, of course), a knotted handkerchief on his head and face rapidly going lobster red…

Flood

Thks flood, if I remember, it is a Sweicher sailplane with the engine mounted on top behing the canopy and driving an overheas shaft propeller

N39TU is a Beech Starship.

I wonder what’s the white wreck?

If I remember rightly it is a Lockheed YO-3A Quiet Star.

Thanks for all the comments; I shall have another look and see what else I forgot.

Flood

N39TU is a Beech Starship.

I wonder what’s the white wreck?

Lovely photos Flood, welcome back 🙂

Very nice shots, welcome home 😉 Anna 😀 😀

remember if the Blackpool Vulcan was in the Tucson Museum, it wouldn’t he headed for the scrapper. Which is the lesser of two evils?
I’d rather have a complete plane with a bit of faded paint. [/B]

Absoutley……pity a few more ‘Aluminium Overcasts’ hadn’t been despatched over to Pima or March museum when retired. A repaint in anti-flash white would have looked great in the desert sun 😎 and probably been one of the easy paint colours to look after….. 🙂

I seem to remember that on the occasions that a Vulcan did appear at a US airshow they caused quite a still, in that a strategic heavy bomber could do it’s whole display routine within the confines of the airfield boundary….. 😀 😀

Hi J-
My comments werent meant to lessen the work done at Pima at all. It was more just feeling that it’s a shame that these great pieces of history are sitting in the desert fading and rusting– though the paint and tape helps preserve the insides of the planes, it can be the different markings that are fascinating, to me, and they fade and eventually become undistinguishable in the relentless sun. .

Rusting…, not a word one usually associates with aircraft in Arizona.

The environment here is surely one of the most friendly on earth to aircraft structures, which is why so many older airliners and military reserve aircraft have been ‘stored’ in the region.

Mark

Hi J-
My comments werent meant to lessen the work done at Pima at all. It was more just feeling that it’s a shame that these great pieces of history are sitting in the desert fading and rusting- though the paint and tape helps preserve the insides of the planes, it can be the different markings that are fascinating, to me, and they fade and eventually become undistinguishable in the relentless sun.

I was amazed and proud of the work being done to preserve these planes by the museum staff and volunteers, and this most recent visit made me feel that even more. My comments were not made to slight anyone; only to express a feeling of sadness that more can’t be done to preserve the planes. It perhaps wasn’t right to say they werent well maintained, but that was only my observation and after visiting a second time (and especially after visiting AMARC) I can see that indeed, a lot is done to keep them maintained.

I noticed that the planes didn’t seem to be very well maintained, and of course it has to do with the elements somewhat… But it seemed kind of sad.

Sorry to disagree, but I think the vast majority of the planes are in better shape than a lot of stuff seen in museums on both sides of the Atlantic….if you care to disagree, look at the Victor at Duxford…or a lot of USAF museum loaned planes on display at various air bases and to outfits like the USS Intrepid.

Keep in mind, it’s a non-government museum….as such I think it’s the best collection of American military aircraft other than the NMUSAF at Dayton. And even then Dayton doesn’t have the Navy and civilian aircraft that Pima does.

They seem to polish the natural metal planes every few years…anyone want to volunteer to go over the C-124 or C-133 with a hand held buffer?
I didn’t think so.

And Flood, if you thought it was warm in Tucson this time of year, you ought to try the summer. I thought you Englishmen were made of ‘sterner stuff’. 🙂

I’ve trooped around Pima dozens of times, in all weathers and I never get tired of the place. In fact back in 1976, I was one of the first visitors to the museum when it consisted of a small trailer where they took your money and offered nothing more than a bunch of planes dragged across the highway from AMARC. They have done more in 30 years than a dozen other places I can name.
But back then it was fun…the off limits area was byond an easily transversed rope, and I spent awhile going through the bones of the B-50 and a F-94B…until better sense took hold and I realized that there might be ‘rattlers’ in their shadows.

BTW…if we don’t like the faded paint and painted windows caused by the sun…remember if the Blackpool Vulcan was in the Tucson Museum, it wouldn’t he headed for the scrapper. Which is the lesser of two evils?
I’d rather have a complete plane with a bit of faded paint.