Posted on 06/05/2005 6:12:36 AM PDT by Budgie
There's a little park in Palmdale, CA outside Plant 42 (which is home to the Lockheed Skunk Works, and also where a lot of the F-35 work is going on for, IIRC, Northrop Grumman.
"Blackbird Park" has a U-2, an A-12 (!) which I believe is the first one to fly, and an SR-71A which was, I believe, the first one to fly. There's also a D-21 drone and some of the unusual turbofan/ramjet hybrid engines that powered these things.
There's one of the two civilian F-104s built for NASA inside the plant, but you need to have business there to see it. But Blackbird Park is open to the public.
Duxford, though, seems to have a really nice collection with good access (especially for the UK, where people usually can't get close to warbirds like we can). Another must-see in England is the Shuttleworth Collection, which goes all the way back to an AVRO (which I think is a replica) and a Blèriot, which is one of two kinda-flying (the other's at Old Rhinebeck in NY). The Blèriot handles so horribly that they just kind of buzz down the airfield in ground effect straight and level.
In the 1980s my unit worked once a year from a base that had been a bomber base in the forties and then a base of secret recon ops over the USSR in the fifties. British crews flew B-45s on those early operations. In the 80s, RAF Sculthorpe was all but abandoned. Anyway, one day I made the mistake of going for a walk off base in my uniform. Don't do that in Norfolk! After the third person offered me a ride I finally gave in. Everybody had a "yank" story whether it was themselves, or more often Mum or Dad or a family member. Lots of aunts that wound up in the States married to American airmen, evidently.
That I was an Army guy made no difference. It was as if the locals had been biding their time, waiting for us to come back. I was treated so well it was embarrasing, for I was a struggling young enlisted guy and had no way to reciprocate.
I like every place I go, just about, but England and Norway are the two I remember most fondly.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Almost makes me wish I had a reason to travel north to find out which.
We have an SR-71, along with quite a few vintage aircraft, on static display here at the Lackland AFB parade field. When the family of recent basic training graduates come to see their kids on parade, you feel good watching them touring the displays. Kinda makes you think they're grasping the connection their children now have with the past.
When I happen to be out there on parade day, I'll stop and watch. Never tire of it.
BTW, A-12 pilots were CIA. Ground support and operations were handled by the Air Force.
Budgie,
Thanks for the pix!
PE and snippy,
Thought you might like to see these pix.
PING TO YOU~
67th?
Kewl! Thanks!
Wow........that is one HELL of an air museum. Seeing that Hun on display (F-100) brought back some memories.
If you go to Dyess AFB, TX.....you'll see aircraft on display on either side of the main road into the base just past the main gate. I had the responsibility of getting an F-100 (in pieces; trucked in from the Boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB) put together and prepared, per mil spec, for proper display.
Took recruiting a bunch of guys, a few cases of beer, the two biggest cranes on base, some good maintenance guys, a cooperative base paint shop (luckily it required the EXACT same paint as was still being used on C-130's....which we also had stationed at Dyess). When all was said and done, we had one beautiful F-100 rolled out there.
Oooh. Nice, thanks for the ping.
Neat stuff - thanks!
By the way it was the USAAF in WWII.
Oh that I was Bill Gates wealthy!!! :)
Last I saw, which was 9-10 years ago, the Valkyrie was still there. They were in the process of building a new addition to hold more of their collection; in the early '90s, they were so short on room, they had a lot of important pieces (including Truman's DC-4, Eisenhower's Constellation, one of three surviving Ju 88s in the world, etc.) held in two hangars actually on the base. You had to ride a shuttle bus over from the Museum onto the base to see them. And they also had a ton of stuff just parked outside on the old flightline, awaiting construction to get moved in out of the elements.
I have GOT to get back up there someday. It's a fantastic museum, and the best part is, there's no Smithsonian-style BS political correctness involved...each aircraft, and each exhibit, is simply shown as-is, with the facts, no editorializing. And their restoration work is the best you'll find this side of the Smith, no question.
As for Duxford, every single person I've ever heard talk about the place has been gobsmacked by it. If I ever make it across the pond, it's a must-see for this aviation/WW II nut!
}:-)4
Don't_Tread, you ARE old! I am too, so yeah, it is a case of 'the pot calling the kettle black' heh heh.
FWIW in the middle of the trip across Nevada on I-80 in the little berg of Battle Mountain sits an Aardvark. Not sure how or why but there it is.
Thanks for the ping....
I was at another aviation museum this weekend.
They had just got an F-14.
Weren't they decomissioned - like - yesterday?
And they are already in museums?
Time marches on, indeed.
because we spend all our money on global and domestic socialism
and so we can't afford to defend America properly any more.
SWEET!
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