Entrance To The PIMA Air and Space Museum In Tucson, AZ
At the museum there are several different hangers as well as a huge outdoor area for all these planes to be displayed. David, for some reason, is obsessed with the SR-17 Blackbird.
While we were in the Tucson area, we visited the PIMA Air and Space Museum.
As usual, David surprised me with all the planes he knew about. I think personally it’s a guy thing. Sometime while in school they must take all the guys aside and teach them all this stuff. At least that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it.
The World’s Smallest Airplane, Named The Bumble Bee
David And The SR-17 Blackbird
Of course we found one in the first hanger. So that makes 2 spotting’s of this plane. The last spotting was when we toured the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL. What made it even more interesting this time was that we just met a gentleman in Quartzsite that worked on the SR-17 when it was being developed.
The museum had an interesting plane wreckage that was recovered a few years ago.
A Plane With Spy Cameras Built Into The Nose
A Plane Wreck That Was Recovered Many Years Later
The Lens From Bauch And Lomb Made In Rochester, NY
t was interesting to find this plane with spy cameras mounted in the nose. That’s not the interesting part though. The interesting part is that the lenses were from the Bausch and Lomb Company that’s located and made in Rochester, NY, our hometown. If you look closely, you can see the inscription around the lens.
David Getting Into The Action
Another Plane That I’m Sure Some Guy Out There Knows What It Is
In another hanger we found this. Of course, David had to get into the action.
With the many different hangers, displaying many different types of planes I found one that I liked.
P51 Mustang
The PIMA Air Museum had some artistic pieces on display also. It was a fundraiser made possible by local artists.
The P51 Mustang! The Cadillac of the skies. This plane is in one of my favorite movies, Empire of the Sun.
A Painted Plane Outside The Hangers
The Super Guppy Cargo Transport
While wandering outside, this was a huge plane that we were immediately drawn to. It’s called a Super Guppy and it’s a plane used for cargo transport. Look closely at the picture. That’s David below the plane. That shows you how huge this plane truly is.
The museum has a few different tours you can take on top of wandering through the hangers. We opted to take the “Boneyard” tour. You board a bus and drive down the road to the active Air Force Base.
Part of this Air Force Base is dedicated to recycling planes, helicopters and such. They take these planes, take them apart and sell their parts. According to our tour guide, this is one of the few divisions in the military that actually make the government millions of dollars.
Planes Lined Up In The Boneyard
The White Rubbery Spray Covering This Plane In The Boneyard
PIMA Air and Space Museum In Tucson, AZ
The Boneyard consists of acres and acres of planes all lined up nice and neat. They spray this white rubbery material in all the openings, windows and such so birds can not destroy the parts and wires.
Planes In The Boneyard
The Boneyard is not at all a place where planes go to die and get recycled. Some of these planes are kept whole and are just stored there until they are refurbished and sold again.
Helicopters In The Boneyard
All in all, the PIMA Air and Space Museum was a nice stop. However they did have only one hanger dedicated to “space”. And that was very disappointing. So it should, IMHO, only be called the PIMA Air Museum.
