This past week flew by! On Thursday it was the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Friday it was the Titan Missile Museum, on Saturday we went to Carlsbad Caverns, then the other three days we drove… ALL day.
The Pima Air & Space Museum was run by volunteers, and most of them had flown some of the same models of airplanes that are in the museum. We went on tour to go see the boneyard where there were about 4000 planes! Some could be taken out again and flown, and were just being stored there. Others were “donating” parts to other airplanes to make it cheaper for the military. It was amazing how many different planes they had!!!
This is a F-117, it is a Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. ?
We drove past rows and rows of helicopters and airplanes.
A B-17. The coolest part about this was that the man who told us about it had been a pilot of one of these!!! He told us many stories about flying missions over Germany and Berlin. At one point another tourist with an accent asked if he’d bombed Berlin. After the pilot answered yes, the tourist informed him that he’d been on the ground during those attacks. Awkward silence… but then everyone was friendly again!
Holding up the earth at the ‘Space’ part of the museum!!! It took great skill to position the hands to hold it up in the best way possible… A skill some of us didn’t have.?
The next day we went to the Titan Missile Museum. This is the command center for the Titan Missile. It was 35 feet below ground and in the war, there had to be two people in this room at all times.
The long hallway on loaded springs that stretches between the missile and the command center. The reason for the springs was for if a missile, or something like it, hit near by then the hallway would move with the shocks and not explode. Some of the walls were 8′ thick of solid concrete.
The next day we were staying in El Paso, TX so decided to drive to the Carlsbad Caverns. You know, we haven’t been driving enough lately, so why not drive 5 hrs on our ‘non-travel’ day! ☺️ We decided to enter the cave through the natural entrance. This path into the cavern wound back and forth until upon entering we got to walk in a straight line for a few minutes! We kept winding the rest of the way down, and the best part was… We got to take an elevator out!!!
There were awe inspiring columns, stalactites and stalagmites which were lit up!!
Personally I think this picture looks a little ghosty, but it shows all of the formations that formed. The ones hanging from the ceiling sometimes looked as though they were chandeliers. There were ones that looked like ribbons, Christmas trees, and knives, some even looked like ice cream scoops!
I said we spent the rest of the time driving, and I meant it. Sunday afternoon we drove to Fort Stockton from El Paso, which was about a four hour drive, and on Monday we drove about seven hours. It puts a new meaning on the word stiff!!!
I enjoyed your trips too. It must have been fascinating to have a real pilot tell of his forays during the war. He must be very, very old! Safe travels. We love you all.
Wow! I love the B-17 Berlin Bomber story! What a great opportunity to encounter the fact that war always has two (or more) EQUALLY human sides! I’m glad everyone returned to friendliness after the awkward silence of this revelation, but I hope that it also made everyone think about how we might be and stay friendly with each other all the time so that we don’t see each other as enemies and resort to bombing each other! Food for thought, anyway… Thanks for sharing!