Our Journey : April 19, 2016 Planes and Chapel

4/22/2016

April 19, 2016 Planes and Chapel

Today’s adventure took us to the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum. The objective of the museum is to preserve and display historic aircraft, missile, and space vehicles and provide educational resources. It is regarded as having one of the top collections of strategic aircraft.

The first plane to greet us was this B-1A “Lancer” as we went up the driveway:

The front of the museum:

We were their first visitors of the day – . As we opened the door, this SR-71A “Blackbird” greeted us – it was AWESOME!

This is still considered one of the world’s fastest airplanes and still holds several speed and altitude records.

The two hour tour started at 11 AM and since it was only 9:30, we decided to explore the museum on own first. There is a wonderful theater where we saw a few short films about the Blackbird and interviews with those folks who flew and maintained it. From there we headed into hanger A until our tour began at 11. Our tour guide piloted a refuel plane during the Vietnam era and the other gentleman taking the tour was a pilot during the same time. Some of the stories were great to hear.

Descriptions and histories of each of these planes can be found here: http://sacmuseum.org/what-to-see/aircraft/

The Albatross – HU-16B:

The Flying Fortress – B17G:

The Stratofortress – B52

These plans were HUGE!:

The T-Bird – T33 A – When Andy was in the Air Force there were many of these T-33 on his base, mostly for pilot training:

The Peacemaker – B36J:

From the Balcony in Hanger A:

F-84F:

The bomber bays of the B36:

What amazed me was that there were crew in the front of the plane as well as the back, along with bunks and supplies in the back. The tube you see was how they managed to go back and forth. Incredible.

Our tour guide:

A Vulcan being restored:

C-119 G – Flying Boxcar:

MiG - 21F

B-29T – Superfortress:

One of the displays was done by a local artist. Each tie represents each person lost in 9/11.

This flag was done by the local elementary students. Each square represents a person who died on 9/11.

I just love STAR WARS especially the character “Ja-Ja Binks”. So when I saw a life size Ja-Ja, I just had to have my picture taken with him – :

We had lunch in the little café and made our way back outside. The four rockets from front to back are Atlas, Thor, Blue Scout, and Snark:

What a wonderful museum and I would go back again. There were so many other exhibits that we did not see. Between the tour and looking at all the planes, I was on overload. So yes, this will be a return trip!

We decided to take back roads home and came across this little place:

So we parked and went inside. This is the Holy Family Shrine and Visitor Center. More information and History can be found here: http://www.holyfamilyshrineproject.com/