A Quick One: Pima Air & Space Museum Walkaround
All I can say is “wow”! What a superb air museum this place has evolved into. I'd venture to say this is the best collection west of the US Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio. Not surprisingly there are many featured planes on loan from them here.
Over 350 plus planes are on static display outside and inside with more under restoration. The latest being the SOFIA Boeing 747SP which I saw parked nearby. There are also plans this year to begin construction of the Tucson Military Vehicle Museum right next door.
This past Monday I stopped by to see what was new. I have been going there for years way back when. It's been at least 15 since my last visit.
I only had a couple of hours there so I just took photos of the planes I didn't have in my reference collection. So there are none here of the star attractions like the beautifully restored B-17, B-24 and B-29 housed inside multiple buildings. The entire time endless A-10C Thunderbolts were coming and going overhead from Davis-Montham AFB right next door to Pima.
In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos I took.
Boeing B-47E Stratojet
Convair B-36J Peacemaker
Lockeed EC-121T Warning Star
Sikorsky S-43 Baby Clipper
Douglas A-20G Havoc
Bell P-39E Airacobra
Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk
A truly phenomenal museum. I visit at least 5-6 times a year. If one can tolerate the heat and humidity, a visit during monsoon season makes for some great outdoor photography. The building storms make for a great backdrop.
I used to make shirt designs for Pima way back in the late 70's - early 80's when the museum was on the verge of going under due to lack of funds. They certainly have come a long way since then. It's strictly first class now. Looks to me they are constantly getting new inventory. If I lived nearby, I would not hesitate to volunteer there.
I remember when it didn't look for them, glad they are doing well. If I lived in Tucson, I definitely would volunteer. Great photos by the way.
Amazing pics, my friend Eric!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks - very nice photos. The B-47 is still the most graceful bomber ever made.
Looks like a great collection! Thanks for sharing...oh, and making us envious. LOL
Glad you were able to enjoy your time there.
Great photos!
Great pics, Eric! I haven't been to Pima since the early 80s, looks like quite a bit has changed. Are they still giving tours of the DM boneyard?
The PB4Y-2 was a fixture in Galveston at the Lone Star Flight Museum for many years. They got a good way into the restoration, but never quite got it done before financial woes forced her sale. It's nice to see the airplane all together!
Thanks for posting these, Eric (@eb801). They really bring back memories. I was a student pilot at Williams AFB (now closed) in Phoenix in 1976-1977. We visited Pima County several times, and also did the tour in the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan. Things were pretty primitive back then. The museum was 90% outside and not much restoration had been done. The Boneyard tours were only on Saturday. I think we made reservations on the bus by calling Base Public Affairs. The bus was an Air Force bus that would drive to a location in the Boneyard and they would let you off to roam around. They would tell you when to be back at the bus, and then we would move to another location. Letting student pilots run around on their own was a pretty risky thing for both them and us. The planes that were in the Boneyard then were probably different than you can see now. I enclosed a few from the 70s Boneyard.
4 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Thanks George @gblair for those boneyard shots especially the shrouded SR71’s put out to pasture. I wonder if those covers were intended to shield them from “eyes in the skies”? I didn’t do my usual drive around the perimeter of boneyard. Last time I did, all the good stuff seems to have been sent to the scrap yard.
North of Tucson about a half an hr on the 10W freeway is the Pinal Air Park where there’s a boneyard and many parked commercial jetliners.
Last time I tried to drive in to visit I was stopped at a military checkpoint and was told to turn around, no dice.
Pinal is where they work on the Air Force One and other sensitive stuff that’s off limits.. Seems now part of the airport is open for public viewing.
https://pinalcountyairpark.com/
Hi Eric (@eb801): The shrouds are actually covering Lockheed D-21 drones that were carried on the back of the Lockheed A-12. It had a max speed over 3.3 mach and a max ceiling over 90,000 feet. The drone-carrying A-12s were redesignated M-12s to denote a drone-carrier. The drones proved to be hazardous to the launch plane and experiments were later carried out using a B-52 as a launch vehicle. This didn't work either, so they went to the boneyard.
I had an instructor in pilot training who thought it was fun to fly over Pinal County Airpark during our low-level navigation flights, so I have seen it several times from the air. It was pretty cool from the air.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Inside one of the protected Pima hangers there is a D-21 drone parked under the port wing of their SR-71A. I didn't put two and two together when I saw those shrouds. Interesting that the skunkworks mimicked the Blackbird aerodynamics on the D-21. I did a double take when I saw it up close. Thanks for clarifying, George.
This must be close to being in heaven, Eric @eb801
An amazing collection which will be impossible to watch all of them in one single day.
Definitely worth to spent a visit when being in the States.
Great Privateer!
The shrouded ones aren't SR-71's, they are drones. They tried lauching from the back of the SR-71, but it caused one to crash. Lauched the from B-52's after that.
On the bucket list ! Spectacular . Thanks for posting