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.
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| Bumble Bee, the smallest commercially available plane in the world |
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| And the smallest jet (used in a James Bond film. |
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| A Mig 15 |
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| A B-47 "Stratojet", the first all jet bomber. |
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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.
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Aptly named "The Peacemaker"
Her size was only superseded by the B-70 "Valkyrie" which never saw service.
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| And the B-52 "Stratofortress", the longest-serving bomber in history, still in service. |
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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.
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The Russian gunship "Hind" which was deadly in Afghanistan until the US
covertly supplied the mujahideen with hand-held AA rockets.
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| F-18 "Hornet" |
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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.
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| The F-104 "Starfighter", which killed more pilots than any other warplane. |
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The SR 71 "Blackbird" which holds the record for the fastest jet-powered plane ever flown.
Official speed record is 2,193 MPH.
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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.
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Hawker Hurricane, the real hero of the battle of Britain.
The Spitfire came much later, and was the better plane.
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| B-24 "Liberator" |
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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.
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One of my very favorites, the PBY "Catalina" who rescued hundreds if
not thousands of downed pilots and sailors in the Pacific.
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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.
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| The Supermarine "Spitfire" which could outfly any Axis fighter. |
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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"
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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.
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B-29 "Superfortress"
The complete B-29 "Enola Gay" has been re-assembled at the Smithsonian.
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| F4U "Corsair" another favorite. |
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| Mig 15 |
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| F-86 "Sabre Jet" |
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B-17 pilot Richard Bushong, 93 years of age,
talking about his experiences flying 28 missions over Germany.
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| Out the window, the B-36 |
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and the B-52 with the F4D "Skyray" in the foreground,
the first Navy fighter to exceed Mach 1 in level flight.
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The B-17 had it's own hangar, and the entire building is
dedicated to the Eighth Air Force.
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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.
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