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By Dennis Begin
Pima Tucson, Arizona is home to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, with the mission to deploy, employ, support and sustain attack airpower. The A.F.B. is both a training and combat center for the A-10 Warthogs fighter planes which are the support aircraft used in air to ground combat. The nickname for the A-10 is ‘tank killer’. Adjacent to the base are hundreds of significant historical aircraft located in the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Throughout history individual airplanes have made major contributions to aviation history, such as the Spirit of St. Louis flown by Charles Lindbergh and the Flying Laboratory piloted almost around the world by Amelia Earhart. The Pima Air and Space Museum has captured the essence of man’s on-going fascination with flying, featuring an eclectic collection of commercial, private, civil and especially military aircraft. The concept for this aerospace museum began in 1966, but it would take another ten years before the museum actually opened with thirty-five planes. Today there are nearly three hundred planes on site, including a section devoted to space exploration.
Since opening, Pima has expanded to become one of the world’s largest non-governmental funded aerospace museums. Over one hundred years of flight history are displayed in five hangars, along with the B-17 390th Museum and the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame in the Dorothy Finley Space Gallery. Exploring just the five hangars, along with 150 planes on the tarmac can take an entire day. In addition, the Boneyard Tour [Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center or AMARC] is located adjacent to the museum and has a ninety minute tour of the Boneyard [graveyard] with 4,200 stored planes.
The following are examples of aircraft in the museum that have made major contributions to military, space and general aviation history:
1. The Wright Brothers are given credit for man’s first flight. On December 17th, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright made the first manned, powered, sustained and controlled flight. The airplane had a 12 hp. gas motor, travelled 36 m (120 ft) and took only 12 seconds. Mankind was flying. On entering Hangar 1, a replica of the plane hangs from the ceiling.
2. The Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber ended World War II. On August 6th, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb [Little Boy] on Hiroshima. The second bomb [Fat Man] was dropped three days later by Bockcar on the City of Nagasaki. Japan quickly surrendered. These two planes helped bring about the nuclear or atomic age. A B-29 named ‘Sentimental Journey’ is located in Hangar 4.
3. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States lasted from 1947 to 1989, when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain finally came down. Both sides during this turbulent period went to elaborate measures to spy on one another. The U-2 Incident of May 1960 was typical of the American C.I.A. Captain Francis Gary Powers was flying over Russia when his spy plane was shot down near Sverdlovsk by a surface to air missile. Not only were the Americans found guilty of photographing Russian military bases, but they quickly realized a faster reconnaissance aircraft was needed. The answer was the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. This aircraft was a long range strategic reconnaissance plane that operated from 1964 to 1996. Its main advantage was speed, having flown from New York to Los Angeles in sixty-eight minutes.
4. The B-52’s Stratofortress bomber played a major role from the Vietnam War to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Both the U.S.A. and the USSR engaged in massive nuclear proliferation or the stockpiling of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. The American doctrine was called M.A.D., or ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’. It was believed that peace could be assured if both sides had nuclear weapons ensuring the attacking side would also be destroyed. The best method, however, was to avoid nuclear annihilation by having first strike capabilities and, as a result, the arms race continued between the two super powers. The B-52’s were essential for American defense, designed to carry nuclear warheads against Russian targets.
5. An aircraft always associated with the President of the United States is Air Force One. The truth is that any plane the President is on becomes Air Force One. Pima has the VC-137B, the plane used by two Presidents, J.F. Kennedy and Lynden B. Johnson. The Freedom One on display is not the plane used to swear in Johnson as President, following the assassination of Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963. This aircraft is no longer open to the public.
6. The Iraq War was fought from 2003 to 2011 with the Americans toppling the government of Saddam Hussein. The aerial war lasted briefly as the Americans employed Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-117A Nighthawks and a variety of fighters such as the F-14 and F/A-18’s. In this war, Iraq used Russian MiG’s, similar to the 21PF, but American superiority quickly ended the aerial phase of the war. The F-14 Tomcat in Hangar 1 was made famous by the 1986 movie, ‘Top Gun’, starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis.
7. Space travel is often associated with the 1995 movie ‘Apollo 13’ starring Tom Hanks as astronaut James Lovell. The near fatal lunar mission took place in April 1970, when the capsule suffered massive internal damage and placed the crew in jeopardy. The Apollo capsule on display in the Space Gallery is only a replica, but was used in the making of this popular movie. Also in the space museum is a history of the space race, moon rocks, Phoenix Mars Mission, Challenger Learning Center and the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame.
There are a myriad of exhibits to see at Pima, including vintage World War Two aircraft, buzz bombs, cruise missiles, commercial aircraft, as well as the world’s smallest airplane, the Bumble Bee. For a roughly $15 admission fee, spend an educational and enjoyable day learning how ‘history takes flight’.
For more information visit www.pimaair.org