| Just to the south of Tucson, on the edge of the Davis-Monthan Air
Force base, is the Pima Air and Space Museum with this sculpture at the
entrance. It is the largest such museum in the western US. |  |
 | To get to the
entrance you walk through the arch of this Sikorsky CH54A 'Skycrane' which
can lift whole aircraft to recover them, as it did very successfully
recovering 380 aircraft worth $210 million in Vietnam. |
| Inside there are four hangers and a 70 acre outside apron. This
is one of a collection of home grown aircraft. It is the smallest aircraft
ever built. It is very unstable in flight, the cockpit is only just big
enough for a smallish pilot, and the canopy has to be
screwed on. |  |
 | There
is a handful of biplanes mainly recording the history of the development of
flight. This is a Fleet Model 2 made in Buffalo, NY in the late 1920s. About
600 were built for sport and training purposes. The firm went on to become
part of General Dynamics. |
| In amongst the real aircraft are some fine models including this
early passenger plane from the 1930s. |  |
 | Another collection
of models, this time of seaplanes. These became very popular between the
wars but are very rare today except for very specialised areas. |
| This might be such a use. This dates from 1937. It is a
Sikorsky JRS-1 (S-43) Baby Clipper. Howard Hughes owned one of these as a
test plane for the Spruce Goose. It was also flown by Pan Am. |  |
 | The WWII hangar is
home to several US bombers including this Consolidated B24J 'Liberator'. It
carried a crew of 8-10. More than 18,000 were built but only 12 remain today. |
| The Lockheed L-049 Constellation flew for TWA immediately post
WWII. It could carry 42-57 passengers and was capable of crossing the
Atlantic, one of the first such transatlantic transports. |  |
 | This one was a successor
to the Constellation, being slightly more powerful. This particular aircraft
was General Eisenhower's first 'Columbine', used when he was commander of
SHAPE. It is a Lockheed C121A. |
| This is a mainstay heavy transport of many air forces including
the UK's. It is a Lockheed C130 'Hercules'. |  |
 | The Boeing B52 was
the US' principal strategic bomber throughout the cold war and could carry up
to 60,000lbs of bombs including nuclear weapons. They continued in service
until the 1990s. |
| This odd looking aircraft is a Grumann E1B 'Tracer' electronic
surveillance aircraft which flew from navy carriers until they were replaced
by the later E2 'Hawkeyes' in 1964. |  |
 | The McDonnell
Douglas F15 'Eagle' first flew in 1972 as an air superiority fighter. |
| The General Dynamics F111E 'Aardvark' with its variable geometry
wings and terrain- following capability has served from Vietnam to Desert
Storm. |  |
 | Still
the only VTOL aircraft in front line service, the British Aerospace
'Harrier'. This is the American-built (under licence) version, the McDonnell Douglas AV-8C as flown by the
US marines (or not!) |
| From fighters to tactical observation aircraft. The Grumann
OV-1 'Mohawk' was widely used in Vietnam by the US Army to direct ground
support fire. |  |
 | Another close air
support and observation plane is the North American Rockwell OV10D 'Bronco'.
They were also used as tank killers and have been used for drug enforcement
operations. |
| A selection of the helicopters on display. |  |
 | The Sikorsky S51 was one of the first used for air sea rescue operations in the early 1950s. |
| This work was later taken on by the Sikorsky HH52A 'Sea Guard'
helicopter which was in service from 1963 with the US Coast Guard. |  |
 | One of the most
common helicopters is the Bell UH-1 'Huey', many of which have served in a
humanitarian role. In current use by over 40 countries. |
| One of the stars of the show is the Lockhheed SR71
'Blackbird'. At Mach 3 it is still the fastest plane on the planet. Primarily a
spy plane. |  |
 | And probably the
most ungainly looking plane is this Boeing B-377SG 'Super Guppy', designed to carry
bits of Saturn V rockets from California to Florida. The cargo space is four
stories high. It was based on the C97 which was based on the B29. A truly
unique aircraft. |
| One of the hangers is devoted to space items with real bits of
moon rock and many
models of landing craft and rovers such as this one which was used on Apollo
15. |  |
 | They also have a
former German V2 rocket which was donated by the Canadians. |
| . |  |
 | And finally there
are a few vehicles related to air bases and missiles. This is a battlefield
missile launching command vehicle such as used to be based in Germany. |
|