On the road again with John & Lynn: Scottsdale, Arizona

Thursday, March 21

On our way to Scottsdale we stopped at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.
We arrived at the museum before the doors opened and there was already a line forming. First we took a one hour narrated bus tour to the AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) or the "boneyard." This is actually located on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Housed in the boneyard are hundreds of aircraft; some used for spare parts for existing aircraft and some that could be activated and flown, if required. Others were simply designated scrap.

The cockpits of most of the planes are sealed with a protective coating due to the extreme heat. If the interior heat rises above 120 degrees the electrical units could be destroyed without this protection.

Hundreds of jet engines are also being stored at this facility. Due to the desert weather conditions the engines are stored in barrels for protection against these elements.

Others will just be scrapped.

This Air Force base is a training site for OV-10 pilots so there were several OV-10 aircraft in the air during our tour. Exciting to see.

Next we took a narrated tram tour of the outside aircraft display area at the museum site. We saw fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft and helicopters from the Korean War era to present day, including three or four Russian built MIGS.

This tour ended at the 390th Memorial Museum which displayed aircraft used during WW II in the European Theatre of operations. The star of this hanger was the B17 - Flying Fortress, the primary bomber used during WW II. The highlight was a presentation given by a 90 year old retired Air Force Pilot, Richard Bushong, who flew 28 combat missions in this type of aircraft.

The stories he conveyed about his missions brought tears to our eyes. Today was his actual 90th birthday and his family was all there celebrating this special day with him. His co workers interrupted his presentation to present him with a gift ~ a model of the B17 Liberty Belle which the pilot let him fly just 6 years ago.

His son encouraged him to record his memories in a book, "My Wars" which we purchased and had autographed by him. We talked with his son and grandson and learned even more about this impressive man. We learned that he also flew an additional 10 combat missions in the back seat of the F4 Phantom during the Vietnam war.

We spent the rest of our time there visiting the other hangers displaying various aircraft including the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest plane in the US arsenal.