Gunner's visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum

Aviation & Simulation Topics
Post Reply
User avatar
Gunner
Virtual Thunderbird
Posts: 1190
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:01 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Gunner's visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum

Post by Gunner » Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:43 pm

Happy New Year everyone!!
Just wanted to share a few pics from my visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum hosted by a gentleman I met over at "Viperpits". First off, I must say getting the "cooks tour" was fantastic! It doesn't get any better than a personal tour from the guy that is responsible for the displays. 8)
I apologize for the number of pics, I could post another 30 and it wouldn't cover the good stuff!

The star of the show:
Image

Image

Image

Image

Let's climb into a piece of history!
Image

Climbing in...
Image

Just dreaming of ghosts...
Image

That's right Wildcat, keep your hands off...I have the aircraft 8)
Image

The Bombardier / Navigator station
Image

Image

They have three Presidential rides:
Image

Just for you, Viper:
Image

And for Rhino & the VBA:
Image

Image

See what I mean about a special tour?!
In this hangar, they are building a replica P-51 from blueprints. Making ribs from scratch, making skin panels, building it as if it was going to fly! Amazing work!!

Image

Wing detail
Image

Left, Steve (Wildcat) talking to John, the project manager
Image

And of course, my personal favorite piece of history:
Image

Here's a couple pics of the other reason I drove down to Tucson:
Image

What an awesome aircraft! It looks like they wax it every week!
Image

And yes Burner, I have another 20 pics of the Phantom! :D
User avatar
Tailhook
Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
Posts: 1052
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:17 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Gunners visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum

Post by Tailhook » Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:57 pm

Gunner wrote: Just for you, Viper:
Image
F-14A Upgrade. Looks to be a VF-1 bird...and it would look better without the nose gear sitting down, but it does look like its sitting on a catapult. :D

You get a shot of the BuNo...or is 160684? And I take it that its engines were taken out?
Image
Atlas
Posts: 266
Joined: Thu Jun 22, 2006 12:35 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Post by Atlas » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:52 pm

It is a awesome place isnt it Gunner? I talked the wife into going down there with me as my chosen spot for our honeymoon. Did you get to go take the bus ride over to the base and see all of the aircraft there? Trust me, you will see a ton of Phantoms sitting there. :lol: Plus, I am a little jealous, when I went I only got to see the Blackbird from afar because they were actually in the process of building that part of the hangar that it now sits in. I will need to go back down there and get a closer look. :D
User avatar
Convertible
Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
Posts: 1069
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Post by Convertible » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:18 pm

Great stuff Gunner. I have made a point to take the boys down every year. They love it as do I. :) Thanks for sharing.

Con
Image
Rhino
Posts: 746
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:40 am
Location: KDVN
Contact:

Post by Rhino » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:33 am

Cool pic of the Tiger there Steve. You can tell they have altered the landing assembly somewhat to make it sit lower. The Tiger used to sit up like the A-4 did.

Image

They even tried a different, wild looking font in 1958 with the Tiger, before going back to the traditional cursive looking writing on the nose.

Image

Little museums like that are cool. The museum in Rantoul, Illinois, the home of the former Chanute AFB has a collection featuring every aircraft that the Thunderbirds used to fly in their respective Thunderbird paint scheme.
Image
Phantoms Phorever!
Airshow fan
Posts: 282
Joined: Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:02 pm
Location: Evansville, IN USA

Post by Airshow fan » Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:42 pm

The used the different font in the short nosed tigers. Belive only about an estimate of 40 were ever built, so they transisioned to the Long nose tiger, as you see in Gunner's and Rhino's Picture above.
User avatar
Cinch
Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:59 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Post by Cinch » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:49 pm

Viper,

Look Closely the front gear is in a "collapsed" config. If I recall from my time on the flight deck the front gear did not squat so far, even when on the cat!
Image
User avatar
Tailhook
Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
Posts: 1052
Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:17 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Post by Tailhook » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:59 pm

Cinch wrote:Look Closely the front gear is in a "collapsed" config. If I recall from my time on the flight deck the front gear did not squat so far, even when on the cat!
Image

Close... :roll:
Image
User avatar
Cinch
Virtual Thunderbird Alumnus
Posts: 218
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:59 am
Location: Atlanta, GA

Post by Cinch » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:34 pm

Look closely young grasshopper, you are still missing something!!
Image
Post Reply