We decided to tour the PIMA Air and Space Museum on the east side of Tuscon, which is also located beside an active Marine Air Base, and the U.S. Govt. Bone Yard. This is where the Government has parked all kinds of airplanes in the desert for various reasons we will get into. John and Pat Morrison should be familiar with some of these pictures as they toured the same facility in Jan.
One of the first planes you come across is Wilbur Wright which was kind of cool, and then this smallest jet plane in the world. This thing is small... but it flies like the wind we were told.
This little bumble bee plane is an actual plane that flies.... not real well, but it got the Guinness Book of Records for the plane with the smallest wings in the world. It has a honking big motor though....wingspan was less than 5 feet...
Somebody actually got up enough nerve to fly this thing....
There was lots of older planes from the 50's and the 60's at the museum, some were restored very nice, and a lot of the could be rolled out and started up and flied away!
The air force had a bunch of these copters that were for heavy lifting, but didn't need them anymore, so they gave them to fire fighters to help fight the forest fires now... they put a big tank where the gap is!
This is a retired air force plane used for carrying cargo and men. It had 6 piston driven engines with the props facing backwards, and also had 4 jet engines mounted on the wings.... wouldn't want to pull in and say "fill er up" in this thing....
This plane is pregnant.... errr...no, not actually, it is a plane used to lift large bulky cargo, and carried a lot of the parts for the space shuttles...
This was a real cool army jeep that I wanted to bring home with me... it was in the WW II display...
During the tram tour, the operator had to stop while the marines took off in these A10 Thunderbolts... these were the same planes used to knock out all of Saddam Hussein's tanks during the Iraq War.
We then jumped on a big bus and headed over to the bone yard. They Govt. gathered all surplus planes from around the U.S. and moved them here to be stored. This first shot is of 1960/70 era jet fighters. They still can fly but are stored now, as they have newer, quicker, faster, higher ones that they use. All these stored planes are intact with their engines in them, and every four years they wash them up, start the engines, and then get them ready to go back into storage... all the windows appear white, as they spray on a membrane that keeps the hot desert sun off the glass and keeps the plane cool inside...
they have lots of them..... some countries still fly them...
These are C130 cargo planes, that can be used for re- fueling also, and there is a whole bunch of these stored here.... they have a newer version out.
Here is the living proof they still use this plane, as this one took off from the Marine Base during the tour...
They take some of the engines out of the planes, and then they store them in these drums on racks....
Everybody has seen the movie TOP GUN with Tom Cruise. This is the plane he flew in the movie... well not the actual one, but one like it, the F14 Tomcat. They have a whole bunch of these planes stored here as well... if your Country happens to be friendly with the U.S.A. and happen to have any of these planes, you can send in a request for any part you may need to keep your plane up in the air. They will find your part, clean it, get it ready, and ship it to you....no problem.
During the tour the guide yelled out to take a look out the right side of the bus, I did, and took this picture... yes, that is a Coyote (look right below the wing) looking for parts for his plane so he can catch the road runner!
This next plane was the most secret plane we saw today! The famous Stealth F117 Nighthawk Fighter! What a plane... Some people say it has such a small profile, that when you look at it straight on, all you see is the wheels!
They also store some surplus equipment out on the desert floor as well. Very dry, nothing rusts here. 
Just as we finished up the tour, this new S2 long range bomber took off from the Marine Base. It was loud and even looks fast in the air... as you can see, there was lots of clouds today... :-))
They explained to us another reason for the bone yard other than storage. Back when the Americans and The Soviet Union were coming out of the cold war, they set up treaties, and agreements of weapon reduction. The Americans agreed to ground a whole bunch of their long run B52 Bombers. They parked them here! The Soviets would come and inspect them on a regular basis to make sure nothing was going on with them, and were also allowed to fly spy satellites overhead to confirm the planes were still on the ground. The Soviet's also came here to watch the American disarm a whole bunch of nuclear weapons. Funny, they always came here in January to watch this procedure... wonder why January???? The Americans also went to Russia to confirm the similar things over there. Now all of the B52's that were part of this agreement with the Russians have been totally dismantled and recycled!
Quite an interesting day that we enjoyed. There are over 4,000 planes parked on the ground here. Some belong to other countries. It seems strange to see them all, and it seems to be a bit of a waste in my eyes... however I am just a crazy Canuk... There are also so many different models and types of planes.... why could they not just make a few models ...????.... same thing as cars I guess....
Anyways, another tuff day as a tourist is over, and it was time for the hot tub. Met a nice guy from Bolton and his Sister at the tub, and swapped Canadian type stories with them.
Till tomorrow....
very nice post about the Pima Air Museum. I ran a 5k there once in between the planes.
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