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2020/11/19 Tucson's Pima Air and Space Museum
π 2020-11-19 01:01 in Flying, Nflying
As part of driving across the southern states back to CA, we were in Tucson. The museum is indeed in Pima, next to Tucson, and more an Air Museum than a Space Museum, but the Air Museum bit is quite good. It's a distant second to the national museum of the airforce in Dayton, OH, but it's still worth a good 6-7H. It would be worth more time if all the planes outside had better descriptions, or working QR links (most of them pointed to a non working website, which was a shame).

I have 3 big picture galleries here:

  • Hangars: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jw4X62bi1M8tigdm7
  • Flightline: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KPqTNyfyfNBG295W8
  • Graveyard: https://photos.app.goo.gl/teWebDopAA1TtE8W6
  • While in Tucson, and after vistiing the Tucson Titan Missile Museum the previous afternoon, I was there bright and early, 30mn before they opened at 09:00 :)




    A good portions of the displays are in 5 different hangars:




    Some hangars had a mix of things:














    Interesting pieces were japanese planes and a pilot guided cruise missile trainer:






















    I had never seen this portable helicopter. For some reason, it never became popular, I wonder why :)



    More planes and helis:



    a D21 drone, meant to be launched from the A12, the first version of the SR21
    a D21 drone, meant to be launched from the A12, the first version of the SR21







    interestingly, there were severals warthogs flying outside that day
    interestingly, there were severals warthogs flying outside that day

    Of course, a sizeable portion of the collection is outdoors, which most of the year, is in somewhat unberable heat, but thankfully in november, it was only mid 80's. Normally you can get a narrated tour in a tram, but during covid, they were cancelled, so I just went on foot. Unfortunately a lot of description plaques were missing, or pointed to unreachable web pages :-(














    unconventional propellor bomber that was improved with small jet engines
    unconventional propellor bomber that was improved with small jet engines







    super gumpy
    super gumpy


















    even some french planes
    even some french planes




    english electric
    english electric


    multiple migs
    multiple migs






    There were a few airliners, that felt a bit out of place:





    They did have some really cool plane paintings:







    Normally, the museum also has a tour of the graveyard in a bus, the huge amount of planes that are sitting around the airport, some decomissioned and dismantled, while others are technically ready to be re-used if needed. Unfortunately, again, with covid, that tour has been cancelled, and I heard it might not come back.
    So, I hired an uber to drive me close to some of the fences around the area, and I jumped out in a few places to take some pictures:








    This is a better idea of what it looks like from the sky:











    So that was it. It wasn't a complete visit since I wasn't really able to see the graveyard from inside, or get a good description of the outdoor planes in the museum (they were missing plaques and had non working QR codes), but it was the best that could be done during covid times, and it was still quite enjoyable :) It's definitely a unique collection.

    2020/11/18 Tucson Titan Missile Museum
    π 2020-11-18 01:01 in Flying, Nflying
    As part of driving across the southern states back to CA, we drove by Tucson, and on my list of things to do, was the Tucson Titan Missile Museum which I found out later is, I believe, the only (former) genuine 9 megaton class ICBM site in the world, that you can visit (the newer ICBMs are much smaller).
    Titan missiles were back when the US ICBM arsenal was only 54 missiles with very high yield (9 megaton). They were, for the times, very precise missiles that were guided at takeoff and then fully ballistic once their takeoff fuel ran out. They have since then been replaced by hundreds of smaller minuteman missiles of 150 kilotons each.
    All the titans sites were destroyed except for this one, and the ICBMs were mostly re-used as rockets to launch other payloads. This makes this site and one remaining display rocket, very unique, and it was very cool that we were able to visit them (they also had just re-opened after a lengthy covid closure).
    To learn more about those weapons, and how things could have gone very wrong with them, watch comand and control

    It was great that we were able to visit after arriving in Tucson:


    this is the actual size of the warhead
    this is the actual size of the warhead




    they also have a very nice short RF antenna
    they also have a very nice short RF antenna

    Outside is unassuming:



    but if you look through the right window, you see the titan missile, impressive view
    but if you look through the right window, you see the titan missile, impressive view

    a few side displays
    a few side displays



    But after a set of stairs, we got down, and it was really cool:



    the whole room is kept completely level
    the whole room is kept completely level



    I won mission commander
    I won mission commander

    the launch key was actually pretty simple
    the launch key was actually pretty simple

    ready to launch
    ready to launch

    missile launched
    missile launched

    From there, we had a look at the missile launch room across the corridor:





    Definitely a special experience, really happy we got to see this.

    See more images for Tucson Titan Missile Museum

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