Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Of course the essence of an air museum is the flying equipment. My recent visit to this museum was enjoyable. They have two large indoor display areas but the big birds mostly sit outside due to their size.

The first thing that drew my attention was this Douglas C-124, the "Globemaster II". These were built in the early 1950's at the Douglas Long Beach plant. We lived in a home not far away, and the following is no joke. I remember standing in my crib when I was supposed to be taking a nap, looking out the window watching these big, fat, slow birds lofting along on t/o and landings at LGB where the Douglas factory was. In those years, MATS often painted the vert. stabilizer (and other areas) high visibility orange and I remember that distinctly as a child.

The C-124 had two decks in it. It could carry personnel, vehicles and all sorts of different cargo. The nose opened in a clamshell arrangement and a ramp lowered for loading. They also had an elevator at the aft cargo door and overhead hoists on tracks. These were still in use early in the Vietnam war. I knew a retired USAF Col. who made many flights between Travis AFB and Bien Hoa AB in Vietnam. The piston engine C-124's were much slower and used much more fuel than the later jets that replaced them (C-141, C-5A). 448 C-124's were built from 1950 to 1955. Only 9 remain today.

In the picture below, the black nose tip containing the weather radar is prominent. The pilot's name painted below the cockpit Plexiglas says, "Jake Garn" who was a US Senator from Utah for 20 years but also an officer in the Utah ANG.






B-1B bomber. I didn't know these were old enough to be in museums yet, but here one sits.


Tail of B-1, where birds have found a convenient place to roost.


Jenny fighter from WW1 indoors. My son asked me, "Did these things really fly??"


Lockheed P-38J. My dad flew the P-38L in the Pacific in WW2.


At Hill, they have one of the SR-71's which could fly at Mach 3 plus.


Lots of other neat stuff.

Lol, who knows what mysterious stuff was flying around up in the skies when we were kids ... remember when the 'sonic boom' was such a regular thing that hardly anyone gave it a second thought?

The Wright-Pat AFB museum isn't far from here ... the B52, SR71 Blackbird, and the A10 Warthog are my favorites there

Amazing hardware, considering way back when that stuff was developed!

The 'Warthog' is THE 'Beast'


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There are quite a number of museums around the country located on air force bases. Not all are run by the USAF; many are run by foundations but possibly a measure of support is given to some by the gov't. At many, land and facilities for one thing.

The museum at Wright-Pat that you mention is the main, official museum, the "National Museum of the Air Force." They have many more planes in their collection than they display at Wright-Pat (like many other museums for that matter). Some of the museums that are scattered around the country have information on individual craft that give attribution to the Nat'l Museum that the item is on permanent loan from it.

...Rad and I kinda frequent Wright Pat since is so nearby....I NEVER get bored or tired going there...


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....just a couple of Rad from a while back when we went there...


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....dont get me started...I got a boatload....(bein a Navy guy... )

_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

Mario
Sounds like a plan to schedule another visit to museum.

Rad

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NRA Benefactor Member
AMA Life Member
Tri-State Gun Collectors Life Member

....that-and a range day too.... you'll have to let me know when you're open and Ill have to see when im off....

_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

I'd like to visit Wright-Pat myself. I've done many long driving trips since I retired, but this one might be a bit too long. Better to fly in and rent a car, I'd think. That was my plan for the Ordnance museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground until BRAC fouled that all up with causing the museum to be moved to Lee. It's still a work in progress and who knows when it will be completed.

If you decide to ,we can help make your visit more enjoyable...and i cook pretty damn good too...

_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

_________________


NRA Benefactor Member
AMA Life Member
Tri-State Gun Collectors Life Member

I'm always up for a trip to Wright-Pat ... the more, the merrier ... count me in

...lookin at when I might be off to squeeze a day off since "some " of us aint "retired"... ...I'm hoping to get the garden in and planted and the deck redone and the porch wood re-weatherized/stained so I wont have to rush before the 'princess' daughter's wedding...earliest mebbe a lil before Memorial Day or a lil after....possibly some openings in June-definately July.....Hey GS....wanna fly in and meet up with us...???

_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

It sounds like a good idea but I couldn't be pinned down to a date yet. I have to coordinate with my wife's cruise schedule but I think we have that nailed down for this year.

....I'm flexible....I work about 10 minutes away from the museum-but live farther...if you decide to sometime,just say when-it doesnt have to be when we all go-or we can just meet up go again.... ...but I warn you,there is sooooo much stuff to see in there that one day isnt enough to properly suck it all in ....a second day may be required to really appreciate things and take your time....last couple times Rad and I went we got there not too long after opening and left a bit before close and we pretty much rushed around ....and I always seem to see something I missed before....like last time when I noticed that the Phantom F-4s they had along with theA-7 Corsairs were painted Air Force-but were Navy planes.......their wings folded and they had arresting gear hooks....


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_________________
....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

B-52's you say????????
As a kid, I grew up in Orlando Fl, and Mcoy AFB was just over the trees....so our neighbor hood was on the beginning leg of landing....every so often I would be at home when they came back from Nam. we could hear the pilots talking on our kid walkey talkey's (cool factor 10+ when your 9 yr old!)...and the family across the street had a navigator on one....he would drop LOWER and shake the windows to let his wife know he was coming home soon!.

one day one went in couple mile from the house....all crew killed and one child that was in the woods where she went in...dad drove me over there...talk about your 'cleaning the field"......it leveled about 20 acres~ and burned all the near houses with dumped fuel~

did see a
u-2 flying in one day......VERY strange quiet jet sound on that one!!!!!....more like a whisper, and slow!?...looked like 50mph up there.......

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crud , we are getting old enough to be in a museum , i know - speak for yourself - i am , do you realize the only wars my kids remember were fought in the middle east deserts ? they cannot relate to defoliants and monsoons , i try to explain about friends dying from agent orange and they cannot grasp it ,

but then ...bocscar - my dad served with him , used to speak of boc - he liked him , i couldn't relate to that either