Went out to Tucson, AZ last week for a work-related meeting. As always I try to find something fun to do while on travel so a couple of coworkers and I decided to check out the Pima Air and Space Museum. Lots of cool airplanes to be seen, including this wonderfully restored B-17G from the 390th Bombardment Group, which flew many missions over Europe. "I'll Be Round" is around for people to remember the sacrifice the greatest generation gave for the world's safety and freedom.
Not all the planes in the museum were of military heritage. This one is actually a movie star, being involved in a James Bond movie "Octopussy". Originally built with a prop engine - the prop was in the back - it was remade with a jet engine. Very agile and able to do lots of aerobatics, its highlight in the movie was it allowed James to escape (doesn't he always?) by flying sideways through a hangar as the doors were closing.
Here's a Cold War-era bomber, the B-47 Stratojet, the first all jet bomber produced in the world. This type of aircraft was also involved in a movie, "Strategic Air Command" starring Jimmy Stewart. He portrayed a baseball player in the late 1940s who, after being discharged from the Army Air Force and getting his baseball career re-started, was recalled back to the military at the start of the Cold War. The movie showed SAC transitioning from the B-29 to the B-36 and finally to the B-47.
One of my coworkers, Kenna, found it hard to leave the museum, as it meant that we had to go to the meeting. No, she didn't actually hugged the cactus as that would have hurt.
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