The Pima County Air and Space Museum

          Your loyal blogger visited the Pima County Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz. today and enjoyed the time very much. In fact, time ran out before we saw everything.

          The exhibits include a moon rock, an SR71, a Lockheed Electra 10E (the same make and model Amelia Earhart flew into mystery), two former Air Force One planes, and others from virtually every era of military aviation.

          There are some examples below, with a few notes.

Electra 10A

 This is the same make and model that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan tried to fly around the world in 1937. They were lost over the Pacific. Note the direction finder (the round thing) above the windshield.

 

 The parachute dummy at right is unrelated to the plane.

F-14

    Above is a nice look at an F-14. I liked the paint job. This plane and the Electra are located in in the first hanger a visitor enters after paying to get in.

 

The A-10A Warthog.

 

The A-10 A Warthog has always interested me. Not the fastest or prettiest plane in the world, it sure gets the job done when ground troops need help. The exhibition includes a neat, close look at the guns this thing attacks with.

SR-71A Blackbird

This is an SR-71 A Blackbird. A poor image of a great plane. This plane used to be exhibited differently, as I recall. It is a bit hard, as is, to move around and get a really nice image of this plane. The hanger is crowded. On the other hand, the various Blackbird-related exhibits are really neat.






   The image below captures a unique plane, one I haven't seen in person before, the OH-6A Cayuse. The Pima museum seems to attract unusual planes and aircraft nuts will enjoy a visit. Just be sure you leave enough time to see everything.

The OH-6A Cayuse

F/A 18A Hornet

If you've seen the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration team, the best of the US Navy's best, you'll understand why this plane attracted our attention. This is the F/A 18A Hornet, one of two examples of planes wearing Blue Angels paint at Pima.









The F7F-3 Tigercat

My attention was captured by the sign, Danger-Danger Propeller, on the side. You see that on other prop planes as well, but it stands out here.










AEW.2 Shackleton

 

The Shackleton, above, was an early warning aircraft. The interesting item here is in the propellers. Look closely. Each engine had two propellers that, I believe, rotated in opposition to each other. In other words, they spun in different directions. This is a cool plane.

The F-86H Sabre.

The F-86H Sabre here is one of two Sabres on the grounds at Pima. The other is an F-86L.









If enjoy military history and if you get a chance to visit Pima, you'll probably enjoy yourself.

Thanks for reading.