my 1:1 scale collection.....

[iballdriver]

[YT]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. Too bad they have that SR-71 sitting outside.

[Jnewboy]

I live near Castle Airforce Base, for those of you who are not familiar you would not believe what they have sitting out there in the sun, SR71, B-52, B-36....

Anyone here ever walked around a B-36??



http://www.castleairmuseum.org/ondisplay.html

[astronut1885]

Pretty sure I saw all of those jets featured on Great Planes.

[VMF115]

Cool Pic's!!!!!!!

[iballdriver]

I live near Castle Airforce Base, for those of you who are not familiar you would not believe what they have sitting out there in the sun, SR71, B-52, B-36....

Anyone here ever walked around a B-36??



http://www.castleairmuseum.org/ondisplay.html

man, they have some great stuff there. i can now say i flew a museum piece!
i have about 90 hours in a tc-45j......although, i had the turbines pulled off and had the wasp jrs. installed. great plane though.

[parrish333]

I just got back from a trip to Ohio where I got to visit my nearly favorite place on earth - the National Air Force Museum in Dayton. It's gotta be the largest aircraft museum in the world. They've got a B-36 and SR-71 as well - really impressive birds. And a B-2, B-1, B-52, U2, F-4, F-15, F-16, Mig 29, Predator, Reaper, MH-53, ....... and on and on and on down through Vietnam and WWII and WWI. Pretty much any aircraft ever used by the USAF, plus a lot of prototypes (like the mighty Valkyrie!!!) and many foreign birds as well. Almost every plane is in one of the mammoth indoor hangars. I spent a 1 1/2 days there and probably could have been there a week just walking around all those beauties.

[Jnewboy]

I would love to go there someday, those hangers must be pretty massive to hold a B-36 or Valkyrie. wow

[Ferrari250GTO]

(Not to hijack) I posted up a bunch of pictures from the USAF museum for those interested

[456THBG]

iballdriver, I was in Richmond just last week and stopped by to visit museum...Very nice.
Favorite museums I have visiited - USAF Museum, Navy Museum (Pensecola), RAF Museum (outsie London).

[iballdriver]

iballdriver, I was in Richmond just last week and stopped by to visit museum...Very nice.
Favorite museums I have visiited - USAF Museum, Navy Museum (Pensecola), RAF Museum (outsie London).

i took flying lessons from one of the Va. hall-of-famers, E. paul rembold. i think he learned to fly from one othe Wrights, and had his original cert. signed by same. gotta check on that though.
i'd like to see the marine corps museum and the udvar-hazy museum at some point too. the navy museum is supposed to be pretty sweet too. dayton would be awesome.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

iballdriver, I was in Richmond just last week and stopped by to visit museum...Very nice.
Favorite museums I have visiited - USAF Museum, Navy Museum (Pensacola), ...

Speaking of which, I was just there this past Monday:

[Delta Team]

Luckily for me my 1:1 scale stuff is as close as the garage.





http://www.davidallenracing.com/motorpool.htm

[Threetoughtrucks]

Delta:

Very nice condition on all three. I've owned at least ten good running MV's and antiques over the years and over the years another 15 bought just for investment and to save them for other collectors from the junkers.
Only two left now, my 62' M37B1 and a 77" M882, both in the hands of my sons.


TTT

[Snake Man]

A question for the military vehicle guys......

Why is it that U.S. military vehicles have canvas roofs over the cab, rather than steel roofs like the identical civilian version ? I have always wondered about that !!!

[Threetoughtrucks]

Very simple, everybody loves convertibles.

Seriously, the reason is that with a canvas or soft top, you can easily and quickly get out of the vehicle if you come under fire. In combat most soft tops are removed and in case of rain, they can be reinstalled in a relatively short time.

Hard tops are usually used (there are military hard tops) in arctic or winter conditions.

With a good heater, I never found the need for a hard top.

TTT

[tmanthegreat]

I live near Castle Airforce Base, for those of you who are not familiar you would not believe what they have sitting out there in the sun, SR71, B-52, B-36....

Jnewboy, I didn't know you were a San Joaquin Valley local I live about an hour's drive south of you in Fresno and have been to the Castle Air Museum too many times to count. Its an awesome museum and one of the best in California. I'm sure you've been to the Open Cockpit Day events... I went to one in 2009 and posted a thread about it here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16920&hilit=open+cockpit+day

Anyways, here's a few highlight pics for the benefit of the other members

B-17G


B-17 cockpit with throttle assembly - the rest of the aircraft interior needed serious work...


B-29A


B-29 cockpit


B-29 bomb bay


B-29 gunner station


RB-36H
Photo-reconnissance version of the B-36




B-36 bombadier's station


B-36 cockpit: Pilot & Co-pilot's seats


B-36 cockpit: Flight Engineer's station


Vulcan B Mk 2
The refueling probe on this plane, at least, participated in the Falklands War, or so said one of the docents


Vulcan cockpit: pilot & co-pilot seats


Vulcan cockpit: Flight Engineer/Navigator station (right side)


Vulcan cockpit: Flight Engineer/Navigator station (left side)


Vulcan cockpit: looking up the entry ladder


B-25J


B-25 Cockpit


B-25 interior - looking towards the nose compartment


SR-71 Blackbird


SR-71 Cockpit: Pilot's station


SR-71 Cockpit: Electronics Officer's station


Looking back over the wings


Museum pieces of a different type...