Sometimes, the journey is the story. Sometimes, the journey gets interrupted; but it never stops.
Recently visited the Pima Air Museum in Tucson. Although it was exciting to see almost all of the types of planes I had worked on, flown on, or piloted during my days in the USAF, it is still sobering to see that everything you worked on as a young man is now in a museum! (2019)
Goodnight, Navy flyers.
Beware of Blast
Sunset over the desert
Got plane? Here's space!
For some reason, the Navy apparently keeps the wings. Maybe as souvenirs?
Quietly living out their retirement days
Outside Air Temperature gauge and deicer on the F-4. I still have scars from grabbing one of these when the deicer was on.
Business end of an F-4C.
A-10 Warthog - I was at the 1978 Paris Airshow when these were first rolled out - and the first public flight ended badly.
Ah, the Lockheed Constellation - along with the SR-71, the most beautiful aircraft ever launched.
OK, so I had seen pictures of these but didn't believe they existed. It's a modified transport for NASA
Yep, they really exist
Doesn't help, still looks seriously strange, even close up
Looks like an airplane that had a compressed air accident
Imagine flying this sucker!!
Mothballed, so it could be recalled to use if it came to that. The C-5A Galaxy, however, has obsoleted their mission.
Contra-rotating propellors - effective, but creepy
T-33 - trainer for the US, but Fighter for the Spanish Air Force. BUFF in the background, the B-52 first flew in 1955 and continues to fly today.
Last of the propellor driven long range bombers
Air Force One - Truman edition
Air Force One - Kennedy edition, although this particular one was the backup.
Air Force One - Eisenhower edition, with a Teeny Weeny in the background - our affectionate name for the USAF equivalent of a private jet.
Harrier -Vertical Takeoff and Land (VTOL) This is one of the British veterans of the Falklands campaign.
And the F-4 - I have spent thousands of hours repairing these, and many hours flying them in simulators. Nothing like a simulated MACH 2 ejection to brighten up a dull day!