Not one of my usual posts, but I couldn’t visit this museum without taking lots of pictures.
As with all my posts, click on any image to see it full screen and kick off a slideshow of all the images.
It was interesting to note the differences between this museum and the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. I mean apart from the size — this hanger alone has a maximum capacity of 10,000 people! There was a lot more emphasis on the people including displays of personal items belonging to ‘famous’ pilots and flight crews, and lot less about the engineering and development.
I couldn’t get far enough away from it for a non-distorted picture. Ginger loves these because they used to buzz her parents’ house on training runs.
She also has a thing about the SR-71 Blackbird, and there was one tucked in behind the B-2. It looked like the SR-71 hadn’t been cleaned since its last flight.
I took a shine to these watching them on training flights along Stockton lake. One passed a hundred feet or so above me when I was out in my kayak. The kayak shook. And I know it was low because it had to pass over an island and that is 60′ tall. Unusually on that occasion there were three of them — they normally practiced in pairs — The first two passed further out in the lake. The last one made me jump, as I wasn’t expecting it, and the first I knew about it was when it crested the island about 100 yards from me. I could count the rivets…
Their training flights along the lake were cancelled when one hit a powerline. So, yes they flew low.
The B-36 really is unique. What with the pusher props and jet engines as well.
It wasn’t until after I visited the museum that I read up about it. It even had a tiny fighter that was carried inside and launched and recovered in-flight!
