Having investigated a number of day trips before we left for Omaha, the first one is the trip to the Strategic Air Command Museum just outside Ashland, NE.
The Museum is a pretty impressive site upon entering the driveway -
 |
| A little closer |
|
|
The Rocket Garden
 |
| L to R: SM-62 Snark, SLV-1 Blue Scout, PGN-17A Thor, SM-65 Atlas |
As you get closer to the door, looking through the glass, there's a Blackbird to greet you. Stepping through the door you see it -
The building has two main hangars. Here's a sampling. Clicking the pic gives you a larger image. Make sure to hit the back button to come back to see the rest -
 |
| B-17G "Flying Fortress" |
 |
| Wright R-1820-97 Cyclone, 9-cylinder radial, air-cooled engines, 1,200 horsepower each.* |
 |
F101-B Voodoo
|
 |
| A-26B Invader |
 |
| XF-85 Gremlin |
 |
| B-36J Peacemaker |
 |
| Pano of B-52 Stratofortress |
 |
| A little Closer |
 |
| B-47E Stratojet |
As you may have noticed these aircraft are packed pretty close together. Picture taking was a little difficult. Apologies for the sometime bad angles.
 |
| F-4 Phantom |
 |
| B-58A Hustler |
 |
| Martin Marietta Titan II model with a full sized nose cone |
 |
| B-57E. "Parent" of this was the Brit Canberra |
 |
| RB-45C Tornado (Reconnaissance aircraft) |
 |
| B-25N Mitchell |
 |
| B-25 Interiors |
 |
| F-84 Thunderstreak |
 |
| F-86 Sabre |
 |
| U2-C "The Saint" |
This pano from the top deck is an overall of the one hangar, to the left is a FB 111A Aardvark which I missed when on the floor.
On to the second hangar...
The X-38 was a prototype for a new crew return vehicle, based on earlier
1960s “lifting-body” designs that would serve as an emergency crew
return vehicle for the International Space Station.*
 |
| X-38 Crew Return Vehicle |
 |
| X-38 Aft view |
Unmanned Apollo test flights were identified by double zeros before
their numeric designations. The objectives of the test flights were to
evaluate the spacecraft's communication and electronic subsystems, heat
shield, and mission support facilities. On February 26, 1966 a Saturn 1B
launch vehicle carrying Apollo CSM-009 was launched from Cape
Canaveral, Florida. Following a seven minute burn, the second stage
instrument unit separated from the spacecraft. The Command Module
reached a maximum altitude of 310 miles over the Atlantic Ocean before
beginning descent. It is on loan courtesy of the University of Nebraska
- Lincoln, and restoration was completed courtesy of Duncan Aviation
and Dale Jensen of Lincoln, Nebraska.*
 |
| Apollo Command Module (CSM 009) |
The VELA Satellite program began during the 1950s and was designed to
monitor compliance with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, as well as to
provide scientific data on natural sources of space radiation. The
various elements were capable of monitoring underground, atmospheric,
and exoatmospheric nuclear tests. The last of the advanced VELA
satellites was removed from service in 1984.*
 |
| KC-95G Stratofreighter |
 |
| B-29 Super fortress |
 |
| C-47 Skytrain |
 |
| Closeup of the cargo door |
 |
| T-29A "Flying Classroom" Navigational Trainer |
 |
| F-102A Delta Dagger |
 |
| A missile (with the one below) hangs over the cafe area. |
 |
| ALCM-B Missile |
The museum also feature two nicely done model dioramas -
Looking out front -
 |
| B-1A Lancer |
On the visitor's map, they showed a Vulcan out back. So we went for a look. Turns out there was a treasure trove of goodies besides the Vulcan.
 |
| Avro Vulcan B. Mk II |
I think this was a very nice museum. There are some exhibits that are showing some wear and tear, some of the planes need to be dusted/washed, and some need a new paint job. All in all it was a very nice collection and definitely worth a visit. The
SAC Museum website has more info and a few more aircraft that I missed. Thanks for looking.
(* - text from the website)
No comments:
Post a Comment