Our Visit to the Pima Air & Space Museum

Monday, Nov. 14 brought us rising, not necessarily earlier, but with a little more of a push to get up, get ready and on the road. We rose around 7:00 and were out the door by 8:15 on our way back to Tucson.

Taking our favorite, winding, scenic route, Hwy 82 to 83 to I-10, (I still see things to take pictures of!)

one of many Sonoita venues

Mike  Krieger back home will appreciate this little guy

These farmed animals are always visible....not sure what they are

A lovely old uninhabited stone house

we arrived on a gorgeous sunny day at the Museum by 9:15. This place is huge and that doesn’t even include the Boneyard, the last resting place for U.S. Government aircraft.

We hopped on the tour bus that left the museum grounds at 10 and Eric, the driver and Bob, our tour guide, took us to the Davis Monthan Air Force Base. Upon arriving at the gates, we were instructed to put our cameras away until we passed through, for obvious reasons. High security.

Bob, our retired airforce pilot guide

The Boneyard was really something to see and at this point, of course, photos were allowed. I took some pictures here but the old winged aircraft didn’t mean as much to me as they did to Bill so I’m letting him be the story teller in his blog post of the day. On Our Way. The bus ride was an hour and a half.

F15E Strike Eagle

E-2C

Whole mess of retired aircraft waiting for dismantling

Photo op of a liine up of C-130s

After we left the ‘graveyard’, we went back to the Museum for a bite to eat before the tram ride around the grounds at 1:30. We were in for a bit of history of the museum planes in the lot. Many of these aircraft have been donated for one reason or another. Unfortunately,[BR1]  the power was out and this created a bit of havoc in the hangars, washrooms and restaurants. No food served and not even pop machines were available.

We decided to walk around the hangars during the hour and a half wait and take more pictures.

Bill seems to fit right in, doesn't he?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing; we should have hopped in the truck and went down the street to grab something to eat first. Oh well, it is what it is.

A kind volunteer, Greg, gave me a pack of M & M’s to tide me over which we discreetly shared in the “no food, no drinks” area. The tram ride was another enjoyable hour long offering interesting information, which I can never seem to retain, but well worth the $6 instead of walking in that hot sun, guessing which planes were which.

A great dedication to Women in Flight

Cool!

After the tram ride we were happy to discover that the restaurant was open to serve only cold foods so ordered a tuna and cold cut sandwich. Midafternoon is not the best time to eat but it just meant we only needed to have our dessert at dinner hour. I’d made some raspberry tarts and bread pudding on Sunday so that will fit the bill quite nicely.

I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves, my recount of the day will show the things I’m interested in, and trust me, they aren’t anywhere near as important as Bill’s recollection!

Enjoy!

SR71 Blackbird

Bill chatting it up with a volunteer

Wow!

 

Painted pink to match the desert

A nice memorial to the 390th Squadron

Nissen Hut designed by Peter Nissen, officer and engineer.
Corrugated steel and plaster board buildings were cheap and took no
special skills to assemble by six men in four hours
They were leaky and cold but they functioned well during wartime.
This one was located in 371st Squadron site and home to hundreds in Parham, England 

Ball Turret

No thank you! 

And had to get a shot of Bungay Buckaroo

We arrived home by 4:30 to a very happy pooch and he did his job looking after the house while we were away.

We watched a bit of tv while sitting in our recliners, which of course meant a brief siesta. We were pooched! After our dessert, we watched The Voice and a movie before heading up to bed at 10. It was a great day entitling us to a day of rest on Tuesday.

Thank you for reading about our day, please feel free to comment.