Saturday, February 10, 2018

Final AZ Museums, return

Final blog on our wonderful trip.

From the Tucson Art Museum
"Blessing of the Shield"
Dow Crowley

"Coffee Grounds"
Don Crowley

"Little Sister"
Harley Brown

From the exhibition on wearable art
"On a Columnar Style"
Barbara Penn



"Nim Maminawemda,"
Tom Uttech
Somewhere I have seen his work before. Maybe in the 
National Wild Life Art Museum, in Jackson, WY

Detail of above.  Most of the birds illustrated are actual species

"White Clothes"
Denham Clements
This is an actual painting

"Pantagonia, Series 2"
James Cook

"Surrounded by Indians"
David Bradley
This Indian artist has redrawn "Whistler's Mother"

"Trail of the Navajo"
Olav Wieghorst

"Wyoming No. 44"
William "Billy" Schenck
A Painting inspired by a scene from the movie
"Once Upon a Time in the West"
with Charles Bronson as the good guy, and
Henry Fonda uncharacteristically as the really, really bad guy. 

"The Fashionable Lady"
Juan Tores

We are now at the fabulous Musical Instruments Museum of  Phoenix. 
It is the largest museum of its kind in the world. 
There was a only US visit of ancient instruments from the Hunan Museum.
 cient
A Player Organ
It


Look at the size of the Bass Trumpet on the bottom.

Our wonderful hostess, Pilar

One final Arizona sunset.

And the huge blue  moon which became eclipsed as we were at the Airport, 4:00 AM

Early AM on the plane

And back over Chicago

Could this be Wrigley Field.  It looks like major construction going on. 

Flying into Providence.
After two weeks of blinding sunlight and warmth, 
it was hard to face the frozen scene at the TF Green airport. 
Certainly as full and rewarding a trip as we have had, 
and a great way to celebrate out 50th wedding anniversary, 
and Susan's 75th. Birthday.

Friday, February 9, 2018

AZ7 The Pima Air and Space Museum

The most remarkable collection of aircraft I have ever visited.  Even the Smithsonian doesn't have the depth of this collection (although I have read of the rarities the Smithsonian does have, waiting for restoration).
I knew they had one of the 3 B-36's left in the world, and having seen them as tiny specks of silver over Florida (but hearing them!), I was very excited to see one.
Here is a tour.

Bumble Bee, the smallest commercially available plane in the world

And the smallest jet (used in a James Bond film.

A Mig 15

A B-47 "Stratojet",  the first all jet bomber. 

And here she is, the B-36, the largest bomber ever deployed.  Actually in design in the early 40's, could stay in the air 36 hours, and
carried two huge hydrogen bombs. The Russians had no interceptor that could fly high enough, and for a few brief years, 
she was the most dangerous weapon in the world. 

Aptly named "The Peacemaker"
Her size was only superseded by the B-70 "Valkyrie" which never saw service. 

And the B-52 "Stratofortress", the longest-serving bomber in history, still in service. 

B-58 "Hustler" the first Mach 2 bomber.  The Russians had no fighter capable of catching her, and reportably
were very anxious about it's existence. 

The Russian gunship "Hind" which was deadly in Afghanistan until the US
covertly supplied the mujahideen with hand-held AA rockets. 

F-18 "Hornet"


Convair "Constellation" considered by many to be the most beautiful plane ever built. 
Behind it is the revamped B-29 "Guppy" which carried Saturn 5 Rockets to Cape Canaveral. 

The F-104 "Starfighter", which killed more pilots than any other warplane.

The SR 71 "Blackbird" which holds the record for the fastest jet-powered plane ever flown. 
Official speed record is 2,193 MPH.

The longest serving plane in aviation history, the C-47/DC-3, 
arguably also the most successful plane of all them, and some still flying. 

Hawker Hurricane, the real hero of the battle of Britain.
The Spitfire came much later, and was the better plane. 

B-24 "Liberator"

P-39 "Airacobra"
A plane that was outclassed at the beginning by the Zero, but the
Russians loved them for their tank-busting 37mm canon in the nose.

One of my very favorites, the PBY "Catalina" who rescued hundreds if 
not thousands of downed pilots and sailors in the Pacific.

The B-25 "Mitchell" the plane that took off from the carrier USS "Hornet" and bombed Tokyo on
April 18, 1942, providing America with some good news after Pearl Harbor.

The Supermarine "Spitfire" which could outfly any Axis fighter.

SBD "Dauntless" dive bomber.
Though suffering great losses, it was our go-to dive bomber from 1941 to 1944, when it was replaced by the
more powerful "Helldiver"

This P-51 "Mustang" had an amazing history.  Lt. Louis Curdes was one of only three pilots in WW2 to shoot town
German, Italian and Japanese planes.  That was interesting enough, but look closely and you will see an
American flag (!) as well.  Go on the web and look up Louis Curdes' and read his story.  It is unique.

B-29 "Superfortress"
The complete B-29 "Enola Gay" has been re-assembled at the Smithsonian. 

F4U "Corsair" another favorite.

Mig 15

F-86 "Sabre Jet"

B-17 pilot Richard Bushong, 93 years of age, 
talking about his experiences flying 28 missions over Germany.

Out the window, the B-36

and the B-52 with the F4D "Skyray" in the foreground, 
the first Navy fighter to exceed Mach 1 in level flight.

The B-17 had it's own hangar, and the entire building is 
dedicated to the Eighth Air Force. 

Col. Bushong flew from 1944 to 1974. He flew in 43 different types of aircraft, including
the A-20, B-17, B-24, B-25, B-26, B-29, B-47, P-39, P-40, P-63, F-4(at Mach 2.1)

The only planes I missed at the museum were some of those exotic planes the Smithsonian has, and 
a personal exception, the P-38 "Lightning" which is perhaps my favorite plane of all. 
A truly must-see collection.