Dayton, Ohio, Day 1

By The Armorer on June 21, 2005 | | Comments (26)

Got here yesterday, spent the afternoon at the Air Force Museum (I'm with Mythilt, the new name is pretty pretentious, all things considered - even if it might be true...) Mythilt is also correct in that can't do it justice in one afternoon - or day, really. Heck, I filled up a one-gig memory card in the camera and didn't get all the pictures I'd have liked. And that doesn't count all the little film presentations scattered around. I did see the IMAX movie "Fighter Pilot," which was well worth the price of admission.

I also got to meet AFSis! My first official Denizen meeting besides SWWBO. A good time was had by both of us, and we shamelessly gossiped about all of you, and about, oh, have the crowd that hangs at ALa's! (And no, ALa, she didn't wheedle pics out of me, either...)

Wandering through the museum, there was plenty of Armorer-fodder...

Bombs!

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Machine Guns!

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Planes! When I saw this Boeing P26 Peashooter - I immediately thought of Neffi - this just looks like the kind of pimped-out ride you could see him in, scarf flying.

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More later - I need to go learn how to lead!

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26 Comments

By J.M. Heinrichs on June 21, 2005 6:56 AM
First step, aim ahead of the target ... Cheers JMH
 
By Beth on June 21, 2005 7:01 AM
I like that little plane!
 
By Mythilt on June 21, 2005 7:40 AM
For small planes, my favorite is the Goblin. Just tickles my Science Fiction bone, images of a large carrier aircraft disgorging a couple dozen little planes like that......
 
By AFSister on June 21, 2005 8:04 AM
Hey John! It was so good to meet you last night! Very cool.... You should all meet him if you get the chance. Great Neffi-plane pic- why do I have the urge to break out into "Snoopy and the Red Baron"???
 
By Neffi on June 21, 2005 9:12 AM
mmmm nice P-26...you know, we have a trucking dock out at work, John. If I wuz to send the address, and you were to pull some strings- you know, call in some favors at the Pentagon...
 
By Boquisucio on June 21, 2005 9:26 AM
Hey Neff, The Massa found you a pocket Zoom-Zoom; lucky you. Can I have that purty Inertial Operating Tail Fuze??? I dont akse for much.
 
By Barb on June 21, 2005 9:46 AM
That is a cute plane, Neffi ... But how do you expect do give the Denizettes rides in it? No second seat ;-) John and AFSis swapping gossip, eh? Hmm - thought I felt my ears burning!
 
By TxAFbrat on June 21, 2005 10:19 AM
We were stationed at Wright-Pat in the mid-70's. I seem to remember the XB-70 being on display outside the museum. Is it still there? I thought it (and the SR-71) were the most gorgeous planes. I also remember my Dad, even though he was a helicopter pilot, made a point of taking us kids down to the flight line at Edwards to watch the B-70 land. Soon after, while he was in Vietnam ('65-'66), we were visiting Mom's family in Illinois and saw on the evening news about a chase plane and the B-70 colliding and crashing. We were back at Edwards by late '66 and got to see the B-70 several more times. Great plane. Great memories.
 
By Cricket on June 21, 2005 11:24 AM
Wow. I will pass on the IMAX Flight Movie. I don't do well in those kinds of theaters...and even the Grand Canyon gives me vertigo from the parking lot. I am glad you had a good time.
 
By Mythilt on June 21, 2005 12:01 PM
TxAFbrat, the B-70 is now indoors along with the B-52. As they can they are moving the aircraft indoors where they can control the climate as needed.
 
By mensabarbie on June 21, 2005 12:38 PM
Wow, I really Like the P26 too. Minus the peas, I could use it.
 
By Ciggy on June 21, 2005 12:49 PM
Got any crops need dustin'?
 
By TxAFbrat on June 21, 2005 1:50 PM
Mythilt, it HAS been a long time since I was there but they have evidently done some major expansion!
 
By Mythilt on June 21, 2005 2:06 PM
Yeap, current plans are to add a fourth hangar and a 'class room' hangar starting sometime next year I believe.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 21, 2005 3:11 PM
I ran out of memory before I got to the Valkyrie. They have very few aircraft out in the open anymore. After I get a chance to process (i.e., make smaller) the pic (we're talking days to weeks here, over 500 so far) I'll slap 'em into an album and put up a link.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 21, 2005 3:42 PM
Oh, and good point John - especially when Neffi comes by, scaring the livestock!
 
By Neffi on June 21, 2005 5:09 PM
...with beef prices the way they are, I might be doing more than just scaring them. That thing packs twin .30s heh
 
By wolfwalker on June 21, 2005 5:20 PM
Re: "Mythilt is also correct in that can't do it justice in one afternoon - or day, really. Heck, I filled up a one-gig memory card in the camera and didn't get all the pictures I'd have liked." Damn straight. I used to live in Dayton and visited the AF Museum many times, and found something new on almost every visit. I swear the place is a time warp - you spend what feels like half an hour inside, then come out into normal timeflow again and realize it was most of a day. Just an incredible place -- and because it's the AF's Own Museum, you can find things there you'll never find anywhere else -- like the XB-70, the Have Blue stealth prototype, the Goblin parasite fighter, and lots more. I remain convinced that George Lucas conceived the opening shot of Star Wars while standing below the Valkyrie and looking forward along its underside. Oh, and don't forget the Memorial Garden outside next to the parking lots. Last time I was there it was about a half-acre or so of ground full of trees and small memorials placed by veterans of USAAF units in the Second World War, in tribute to their units and to their comrades who didn't make it back.
 
By ALa on June 21, 2005 9:58 PM
I don't need the pics from AFSis...maybe I have already made arangements with your Other! *evil laighter* *winks at SWWBO*
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 21, 2005 10:05 PM
We discussed that last night... she doesn't *know* where the good ones are... just the buckethead ones.
 
By Neffi on June 21, 2005 10:45 PM
HAH! The blogosphere is not yet ready for the "secret file" photos of JoA... and I expect SWWBO keeps those to herself anyhoo heh
 
By Justthisguy on June 22, 2005 1:50 AM
Barb, I think the Naval Aviation Museum has an SBD, which has a back seat. It has a radar, lotsa radios, a coupla machine guns, even stick and rudder pedals and a few instruments back there. Lots of stuff to *amuse* the harried rear-seat(wo)man. I think there's even one in private hands (though I think it's actually a repainted A-24) which you might conceivably get a ride in after a sizeable donation to the Confed- oops - Commemorative Air Force.
 
By Justthisguy on June 22, 2005 1:57 AM
Funny about the well-streamlined shapes those bombs have. They look like the ones designed in the '20s. Then, in the Second World War, one sees that we went for size over shape. Later, with jets, and hanging them on the outside of the airplane again, we went for slippery shapes again.
 
By AFSister on June 22, 2005 10:26 PM
ALa- I tried the SWWBO route too... with no luck. DRAT!
 
By Justthisguy on June 28, 2005 11:53 PM
Sigh! I make an insightful, intellectual comment about bomb shapes, and it falls off the edge of the Earth. I make a silly social comment about two-seat dive bombers, and it starts a whole new thread by The Owner. It ain't fair, I tellya!
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 29, 2005 6:26 AM
Now you know what it's like to be the "The Owner" and make an insightful, intellectual post, only to have the comments hi-jacked by some golf-course hating Floridian, morphing it into a discussion of 'type' or somesuch... 8^D