Douglas' Travels in the Americas: 6 inches!

Hello.

Today I went to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, about 20 miles to the south of Omaha.

There now follows a boyhood dream barrage of photos of some missiles and some aircraft that I used to draw and read books about. Sometimes I still read books about them.

Missiles

SR71 This plane was quite fast.

Part of the reason for making the trip was that they have an SR71 Blackbird at this museum. I have always wanted to see one in the flesh. The story goes that the US wanted a way of spying on the baddies. The plane they had - the U2 - could fly very high but wasn't very fast so they asked for its replacement to be really, really fast. Lockheed said that they would make it and that it would be no problem. They had to invent engines that could go really, really fast. They had to invent materials to make the airframe and the engines out of because materials that could withstand the extremes of temperature didn't exist. Once they had invented the materials, they had to invent the tools to machine and work the materials and also the techniques required to make them into a working aircraft. Then they had to invent a fuel to make the engines work that would still be stable in the conditions it would be working in etc, etc. The whole process of designing and building it is quite incredible.

I touched an SR71 today, that was cool.

"Weeee!"

The J-58 engines got so hot during cruise that they grew by 6 inches in length.

6 Inches! From an engineering perspective, something that can grow and shrink by 6 inches is pretty difficult to reliably attach to something which may be expanding and contracting by different amounts in the same conditions, especially if you want to make the whole thing travel at 3 times the speed of sound.

Afterburner on a J-58

J-58 on display

Contra-rotating death-banana.

This one is called a Flying Boxcar.

Wasp Major engine cutawway.

Twin Tie Towers.

B-29 The aerial bit at the front looks like the bit of the Limo Mick Dundee uses as a Boomerang in Crocodile Dundee.

B-29 Bomb bay

One of the things I felt about this museum is that most of the bombers have the bomb bay doors open and you can go and stand inside them. I did this several times during my visit.

Flying Boxcar

Manuals for building WW2 aircraft.

Numerous historical aircraft engines on display. I love gas turbines.

Douglas DC-3. Well actually I think it is a C-47 which is the military version.

Omaha gave space an Astronaut. They are rightfully proud of him.

The museum has a MIG-21

The ceiling fans look like Helicopter rotor blades.

B-17

F-111 Air intake

B-52 training cockpit with 8 throttles.

I felt like I was in Dr Strangelove

B-36 Bomb Bay. The big tube is a crawlway that let the crew crawl from the front to the back without leaving the pressurised cabin.

XF-85 Goblin. These were launched from the B-36 bomb bay and were supposed to go and shoot down any interceptors that threatened the B-36 mission.

Interestingly, the museum has a Vulcan, but it is outside and the exhibit was closed.

I love how you can see where the wheel fits in when they retract the landing gear.

F-4 Phantom arrestor hook.

B-52 wing

B-58

F-4

B-58 again

This was just sitting on its engine stand tucked in behind the B-58 but its a J-93 like what they used in the XB-70 which was a heavy bomber that could do Mach 3.

School kids having their lunch under a B-36

B-36

B-52 Bomb bay.

B-52 undercarriage well

Me standing in the B-52 bomb bay.

A-26B

B-17 rear gun

SR-71 engine cone

When I got out it had snowed. About 3 or 4 inches. I went down to see the B-1A they have at the museum. This one is supersonic, the later B-1B went into production but is not Supersonic.