The USAF museum is so large, and I took so many pictures, that it gets its own entry. I'll let the pictures and their captions tell that story. If you could care less about planes, just skip it....
I spent four hours there admiring in particular the experimental X-planes and prototypes. Some of them are works of art, most of them contributed positively to the development of flight, and a select few of those shown below were completely off-the-wall. After decades of learning about planes, I've really become jaded, and now seek out only the truly unique or beautiful planes.
Rocket powered Japanese Okha (Cherry Blossom) suicide plane - actually a trainer with landing skid and without the explosive charge.
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Artwork with various Air Force themes:
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Had I been a craftsman, and working a century before now, this would have been what I'd have been doing:
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Extremely complicated B-58 'Hustler' landing gear that somehow retracts without hitting the external fuel tank.
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De-skinned version of the F-86 Sabre:
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Downright scary display of Minuteman missiles, or 'The Sentinels of Freedom'. Yeah, I know the MAD doctrine worked (or else you wouldn't be reading this). But it worked in spite of serious mishaps and false alarms, that only mid-level army officers identified as such and prevented sending off missiles in retaliation.
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Middle left: B-36 'Peacemaker' (or 'The Big Stick', in reference to President Theodore Roosevelt famous line; "Speak softly and carry a big stick"). The thing had six radial engines and four jet engines. That's a total of 336 spark plugs to change...
In center left background is its newest successor, the stealthy B-2 'Spirit', which according to military sources costs $130,000 per flight hour. Add to that aerial refueling and whatever its payload costs if launched.
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Recruitment poster showing six-engine B-47 bomber using JATO rockets for take-off:
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Probably the closest thing the astronauts could've gotten to riding a motorcycle in outer space:
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The XB-70 Valkyrie, a Mach 3 capable bomber of which the one of two prototypes survived. The other one crashed spectacularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCORwUxlNQo
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Behind the Valkyrie stood the Fisher P-75 eagle, a personal favourite of mine: The War department wanted General Motors to make parts for the B-29 (and could order them to do so), but in order to avoid that GM came up with a project to override that: A fighter aircraft using components from various other planes already in production.
It's hard to believe that the government bought this preposterous idea, but it did, and the hopeless plane actually flew. As a fighter it was a failure, but in its primary mission - to keep GM out of having to build B-29 parts - it was a success:
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Two other planes that didn't do too well either: The sleek white X-3 'Stiletto' wasn't as fast as it should have been due to weak engines, and the tubby looking XF-85 'Goblin' parasite fighter never managed to hook up to the bomber that had released it:
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Narrow gateway to keep too large people from entering one of the early 'Air Force One' planes, a Lockheed 'Super Constellation'. A USAF crew shows up occasionally to polish all the presidential planes' aluminium:
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F-117 Nighthawk, the odd looking stealth attack plane:
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According to what I found on The Internets:
In 2005 Orange County Choppers Inc., in Rock Tavern, N.Y., built this motorcycle to support the Air Force Recruiting Service. Inspired by the U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor, Orange County Choppers incorporated the Air Force symbol into the wheel rims and shaped the rear view mirrors to resemble the F-22. The gas tank represents the cockpit, and the exhaust pipes mimic the Raptor's vectored thrust exhausts. This chopper's 131 cubic inch engine generates 150 horsepower, and the six-speed Baker right-hand drive transfers power to the 300 series Avon Venom rear tire. The motorcycle measures 10 feet, 3 inches from end to end.
During its service, the chopper reached millions of people through appearances on the American Chopper reality television show that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Military Channel. With a video documenting its construction, the chopper also appeared at over a thousand Air Force recruiting events nationwide. In 2013 the Air Force Recruiting Service transferred this motorcycle to the museum.
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