Small Scale Military Headquarters

https://www.facebook.com/Aviatornutcom?ref=hl

pics from Planes of fame & Yanks Museum also Edwards air base.

Planes of Fame has a very cool junkyard I'd love to know where they found all those wrecks.

But at Edwards AFB, you missed the really cool stuff out in the desert:



That's a scanned copy of a photo I took in October 1998 (which I found on this forum from a post I made in 2005). I was camping out with my Boy Scout troop in the South Base area of Edwards AFB while we attended the airshow there. I'm not sure if the USAF allows that anymore in this post-9/11 world...

Our campsite was located near an old rocket sled track and there were all sorts of long-forgotten bunkers and control rooms that we had unlimited access to. It was a blast exploring those. A little further out in the desert from where we camped, there was a gutted B-58 Hustler one could climb all over and about a mile away from that even further into the desert were a couple scrapped B-52s! These were early B-52Bs with the manned tail gun positions. The one pictured was the most complete, though missing the tail and engine nacelles. The other plane was cut into sections. While they were basically gutted, you could climb throughout the aircraft & get a good sense of the interior layout. I believe these are still there - you can find pictures on Google maps

My name is carved somewhere on that B-52 (along with hundreds of others) and I took home a 3x3 foot section of the wing that had been cut off - which I still have to this day

Very cool!

The boneyards are pretty impressive, with all sort of aircraft types. Be great to just wander through them.

And tman, very cool to have such a large piece of an actual B-52.

t-man cool pics. love to see more.

i live in tucson you should see all the bone yards here in and and d/m air base the non military yards are full of long forgton planes and copters. wepons and wepon systems all over the place. we also have a missile silow and a large air museum pima air and space. they have things i have not seen from my navy day s. brings back killer good memories.

@ rudedog I posted some pics from a trip to Tucson.

rudedog wrote:i live in tucson you should see all the bone yards here in and and d/m air base the non military yards are full of long forgton planes and copters. wepons and wepon systems all over the place. we also have a missile silow and a large air museum pima air and space. they have things i have not seen from my navy day s. brings back killer good memories.

Pima Air Museum is awesome! Extremely huge collection - I think second only to the USAF museum in Dayton, OH. I've been there a couple times, first in 1992 and again in 2009. Didn't take the bus tour of the Davis-Mothan AFB boneyard the last time I was there, though is on the list of things to do...

When I was a little 11-year-old in 1992 visiting the museum for the first time, I was fascinated with the B-17 they have, which was then under restoration. I was able to sweet-talk a couple of the old veterans to let my younger brother and I have a walk-through of the plane. Got to sit in the pilot seat, ball turret, swing the .50 cal MG in the waist section, and best of all, go into the nose and look through the Norden bombsight. 20+ years later, that still ranks as one of the best aircraft tours I've ever had. The fully restored B-17 is currently a very nice display giving visitors a practical walk-around tour

Speaking of Museums and B-17s if you ever make it to Polk City, Florida you should definitely check out Fantasy of Flight. They have a B-17 inside all rigged out like a movie set. Once you enter through the tail section your blasted with air and sound effects as if your airborne. The sounds of gun fire from M-2 .50 caliber machine guns follows soon after. As you cross through the bomb bay compartment below is a large projection screen which at first is completely hidden until it eventually surprises you with video of the doors opening up over Berlin. Bombs fall and the doors close. Almost looks & feels too real. lol Once up at the cockpit you can hear radio chatter of the pilot and copilot radioing in to other B-17s in the fleet. Got to see to believe it.

How long has that been there? I used to live in Orlando and would drive over to Tampa/St. Pete to see metal shows quite a bit and could have stopped in - although that was long before 21C came along and I wasn't actively into this hobby then...

Still would have checked it out.

posted a pic of a corsair in the ocean. the ocean is still the ultimate bone yard.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

when i lived in daytona beach fla i dove on many airplane wrecks the air port there started out as a military air base for training in w w 2. many a plane ditched in the ocean also ship s torpedoed of the coast. i worked for a paving co that did some work on a run way and dug up a live 500 pound bomb that was a fun day.

Great thread & good stories! (I say keep 'em coming)

I can 2nd the Fantasy of Flight/B-17 experience. I was there years ago, thinking it was a fluke "well, this is awesome - only a matter of time before they close it to the public".

I just checked the website and yeah, you can still walk through it. If you're a fan of the B-17, I can't recommend this enough.

It also helped that the day I was there, a Short Sunderland landed on the lake just outside the museum.

Great place.

Great topic!!

Aviatornut.com wrote:posted a pic of a corsair in the ocean. the ocean is still the ultimate bone yard.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

How true......

Fantasy of Flight has been around for quite a while now. Not really sure on the years. The diner is the first thing you see as you walk in. Certainly takes you back in time. Its like a little Disney World on flight. Pictures alone cannot justify the experience in my honest opinion.



Parachute your way out of a plane.



Walk through the trenches of WWI.



There is also a flight simulator exhibit too.



They also sponsor car shows and other events.

I got a chance to go to fantasy of flight and even got to meet mr.weeks and I must say its a great museum

Hey guys,

Live in Tampa and have taken my son to Fantasy of Flight several times over the years. Simply a great place to go check out aircraft There's also another museum over in Largo (Armed Forces Military Museum) that's a great place go check out as well. While I wasn't too impressed when I first went there a few years ago, when I took my son and his friend this past Memorial day I was thoroughly impressed. First was the Mig-21 parked right in the parking lot as you drive in and also the M8 Greyhound that you can ride in. Yes, ride in. We went on what was a muddy day and the two boys and myself had a ball!

I too lived in Daytona for about 12 years and if you're careful there are military relics everywhere. I remember driving out to a house where in the backyard was a mini helicopter boneyard. Had to tread lightly as not too many people knew about it and rumor had it the guy wasn't too fond of a guys from Embry-Riddle sneakin' around like we were but we did.

John

john do you know where bcc is if so that was the training and living quarters for years i worked for the city as a heavy equipment operator for many years we would did up all kinds of things from intact soda bottles to live and spent ammo in all cilibers.

Sad to post this, but Fantasy of Flight is closed to the public. Now only open to group & private event rentals.

http://www.fantasyofflight.com/about-us ... s-journey/

i believe they've opened a smaller public area now