May / June 2022 Vacation Day 7 · · PAGE 12A.

May 29, 2022:  Linda and I went to the Pima Air Museum early today to beat the heat as most of the exhibits here are outside.  This Google Earth drive by image of a KC-135 jet air tanker and a B-50 bomber from the post World War 2 era are parked near the northwest corner of the Pima Air Museum.  The B-50 design is an upgrade to the B-29 design used in WW2.

The B-47 was the first jet bomber used by the US Air Force.

The B-36 was the last of the propeller engine bombers with SIX engines in a "pusher" configuration.  This airplane also required FOUR jet engines to get it off the ground.  The B-36 and the B-47 were featured in the 1955 movie "Strategic Air Command" starring James Stewart.  He served in World War II flying B-17 bombers from England bombing Nazi Germany.  He was in the Air Force Reserve forces when the Army Air Corps became the US Air Force in 1947.  He flew the B-36 and the B-47 in that 1955 movie.

The first flight of the Boeing B-52 heavy bomber was in 1952 and was put in service in the USAF in 1955.  The two models seen below have different sized tails and different engines.  There are models of the B-52 still in operational service to this time and will be in use for years to come.

These three YF-23 aircraft at the entrance to Pima Air Museum were built by Lockheed to compete with the Boeing F--22 stealth fighter.  Boeing won the Air Force Contract.  There is ONE of the YF-23 airplanes in the USAF museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

Since I could not get a new Google Earth ground view of the front of the Pima Air Museum, I got this aerial view that is not dated but is similar to what we saw when we entered the building..  I can confirm we parked under the shaded spaces that have solar panels on the roof.  The A-4 Skyhawk featured near the main building is new.  From the Google Earth images I have seen, this featured aircraft up front is changed from time to time.

This ground view of the main entrance is from a 2013 Google Earth image.

This MD-11 Flying Eye Hospital was new to the museum when we visited here on May 29, 2022.

This Boeing 787 from All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been here for a while now.

This Boeing 707 / VC-137B was used to transport US Government VIP's on official business.  It is best known for bringing the American hostages home from Iran on January 20, 1981.