Threat Axis » Pima

Quick Pima update

Threat Watcher — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:24:29 +0000

When I went down to Tucson last month to see the Heritage Flight rehearsal – I got down there before any flying started. So I headed over to the Pima Air & Space Museum to see what was new in the last year. I quickly walked through the hangers and around the grounds, keeping half an eye on the air over Davis-Monthan across the street (so I wouldn’t miss too much of the Heritage flights. If it was something that had changed since January 2009, the new picture appears on the left – and the old picture on the right. If it was something brand new, there will only be a single picture on the left. Click on any picture to go to my Flickr account for more detail on these and other pictures of these aircraft.


The Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star has moved out of Restoration and is now hanging from the ceiling near the Blackbird. It seems to be naturally camouflaged against the ceiling. It was almost ready to go on display when I last saw it in Restoration.

And also the Snow cropduster is done – parked out on the grounds w/ the cockpit sealed up.

NEW – A German Kreigsmarine (Naval Strike) Tornado IDS has been put out on display;

NEW – The Restoration area has seen some new arrivals as well. A Mig-23 Flogger is waiting outside to be reassembled and put on display;

NEW – As well as a MH-53 Pave Low (combat rescue helicopter).

I have to get down to Tucson more often. Maybe this fall once work eases off.

SR-71 Blackbird – sn/17951

Threat Watcher — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:50:03 +0000

This was the original reason that I was going to go down to Pima on the photo trip. I hadn’t been to the museum since the new ‘Spirit of Freedom’ (Hanger 1 South) had opened up. And it was the new home to the museum’s SR-71 Blackbird.

The pictures in this slideshow documents the progression of the Blackbird’s display at Pima. From being tucked under a temporary sun shade/car port, to being out in the middle of the Arizona sun, to finally being inside and showcased in the new hanger.

This is the last set of pictures from the January photo-safari. If you would like to explore more of my pictures from different trips to Pima – please click HERE. If you are interested in learning more about the Pima Air & Space museum – click HERE.

If you would like to see all of my posts about Pima – click HERE.

Pima – Convair B-36 Restoration

Threat Watcher — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:21:19 +0000

This was the reason that most of us had come on the trip. A chance to photograph the Convair B-36 Peacemaker that the Museum staff had been working on reassembling for over three years now.

[This slideshow/picture set is of ALL of my B-36 pictures from Pima. Not only my trip in January 2009, but from trips in 2006 and 2007. So you can see the visible progress. For a more current and up close status of the restoration of the Peacemaker, take a look at the project page on the Pima website]

This B-36 – a lightweight ‘J’ model (High altidude variant with strengthened landing gear, increased fuel capacity, armament reduced to tail guns only and reduced crew, 33 built) and was actually the very last B-36 built.

As you go through the slide show, you will start with the exterior shots, and then to the close-up pictures (taken from within the Restoration area). Finally – the last 1/4 of the pictures are from the INSIDE of the aircraft. When the Restoration Manager told us that he planned on giving us a chance to climb inside the aircraft and see what it was like inside – you could have heard a pin drop among the group. No one expected this chance.

A sample from the Cockpit;

And a sample from Aft Crew compartment;

Click on either picture to go the full size image on Flickr.

Nowhere else – have I seen this level of behind the scene access. All I can say to the Pima Restoration Staff – THANK YOU!

Pima – Restoration hangar and grounds

Threat Watcher — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:09:52 +0000

Behind a sign that says ‘Museum Staff only’ rests the Restoration Hangar and storage yard. This is where planes are prepped to go on display, and others sit either waiting for their turn, or waiting to used as parts for another exhibit.

Being allowed into the Restoration was the whipped cream on this photo trip (the cherry will be another post). It was due to the diligence of the organizer of the photo trip.

The Restoration shop is where aircraft are taken apart, cleaned, holes patched, put back together again, and repainted.

The YO-3 Quiet Star – is almost complete and should be on display soon.

The Snow S-2A crop duster has been in the shop for less than a year – and is still in the ‘cleaned’ stage.

The A-20G Havoc has been in the restoration hangar for over 3 years now. This one is notable in that this was an actual World War 2 veteran. The airframe served in the South Pacific and had crashed at the end of the runway returning from a mission. It was subsequently used for small arms target practice. The bullet holes on the airframe are marked to Save (not repair) to show the damage that this plane suffered.

A F-4J Phantom was staged right outside the Hangar (to take the place of the Quiet Star) waiting for its turn for a new paint job.

Pima – P-51 Mustang being built

Threat Watcher — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:36:22 +0000

In the middle of the museum field of planes – there is a non-descript building which houses a special project. This building is referred to as ‘Area 51′ – and is where the museum’s craftsmen are building their own P-51 Mustang.

Now – they don’t ever expect this plane to fly, so the strength of the wings and the fuselage are one of the areas that they are cutting back on. But otherwise – they are working from original blueprints and where possible (budget & availability) using original parts.

The whole reason for this project is that the P-51 was an iconic American warbird representing World War 2. But the museum does not currently have one in its collection. While thousands were produced – when the war ended lots of them ended up in private hands, and are seen quite frequently at the air races (pre-Red Bull Air Racing). When a P-51 does come up for sale – the price is in the millions – which puts it out of reach of a non-profit museum like Pima.

There is only one person working on the Mustang full time right now. There is one other person – the Restoration Manager – who has less than 50% of his time on it right now. It is already a couple man-years worth of work – but it sounded like it could be on display by the end of the year.

Pima – Avro Shackleton AEW.Mk2 ‘Mr Henry’

Threat Watcher — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:38:56 +0000

Back at the edge of the restoration area – was an Avro Shackleton AEW.Mk2 named ‘Mr McHenry’ – that was donated by Air Atlantique Classic Flight.

The Shackleton was a post World War 2 design for a RAF Maritime Patrol Aircraft. This particular airframe, WL790, was converted to be a AEW (Airborne Early Warning) platform.

Each of the four Rolls-Royce V-12 engines turn a pair of contra-rotating propellers.

The Shackleton has been at Pima at least a year, but has yet to find a permanent home in display area.

[UPDATE] Pima – Mig 29 Fulcrum

Threat Watcher — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:56:55 +0000

The first new exhibit – was a Mig-29 Fulcrum on the fence line (along Valencia Road).

Even though the Mig is in Russian Air Force markings, one of the other photographers on the trip seemed to think that this is one of the former Moldovan Mig-29′s that the US bought back in 1997 (because this version of the Mig-29 – ‘S’ had a built in jammer on the spine, and was capable of being equipped with nuclear stand-off weapons).

[Wikipedia - does not list this Fulcrum on its list of Mig's on display in the United States, so I don't know who you could check with to confirm the Moldovan connection].

If you scroll through the slide show above – two of the pictures give a clue that this plane did at least take a stop in the custody of the US Air Force in Florida. So if I had to guess – I would say that this was the Mig-29 that had been on display at MacDill AFB (because the canopy on the plane looked like a replacement – and Wiki listed the Fulcrum on display at MacDill as missing its canopy).

[BTW - if anyone happens to go by MacDill and finds that the Fulcrum is no longer there - please let me know so I can update Wiki and my picture notes]

Update – 1/23/2009 – doing some more searching on Flickr for other Mig-29 photos – most notably – this one – it seems pretty conclusive that the canopy on the Fulcrum at Pima is NOT the original canopy. Which means it is highly likely that this was the Fulcrum that had been at MacDill. Now the only outstanding question is – who gave it this crappy canopy? Pima or the USAF/LockMart clean-up crew?

Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson AZ

Threat Watcher — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:21:08 +0000

Soaring over the mountains

Originally uploaded by rob-the-org

I took a road trip this past weekend down to the Pima Air & Space Museum on the east side of Tucson, AZ this past Saturday. It was my first visit in almost two years, and my first trip with my current camera.

Each time I have gone, I have found something new and surprising, and this trip was no exception. Expect to see the highlights from this trip over the coming days.