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I took a local ride yesterday afternoon and decided to stop by and visit the Confederate Airforce Museum headquarters at Midland International. I hadn't been there since my band played a benefit show in the main hangar during the summer of 2007, and I thought it'd be nice to just stroll through on my own, take my time, and take some simple snapshots.
A WWII-era glider:
Some pics from the walk-through C-54 display:
The C-54 in its prime:
A scale replica of Fat Man (incorrect shutter speed):
A scale replica of Little Boy (incorrect shutter speed):
A 6-foot by 8-foot display showing an arial photo of the Nagasaki aftermath. This is only a section of it:
The Norden Bombsight:
An M3 I found in the weapons displays:
50-cal, anyone?
Some fantastic aviation art. The walls are covered with it:
The Dragon and His Tail
The hangar is a mess right now because of winter maintenance. The CAF, for those of you who may not know, keeps as many of its aircraft in flying condition as possible. The first thing I noticed was the looming figure of Fifi, the CAF's B-29 Superfortress. She hasn't flown in several years due to major mechanical and structural problems, IIRC, but the CAF is apparently working very hard to get her back into the air:
Here's something you don't see anymore -- an airworthy T-33. Goodfellow used to fly these out of Mathis field in the early '80s, and I got to sit in one as a little kid while visiting family in San Angelo. Just seeing this thing in person and touching it brought back a lot of great memories:
The Polikarpov I-16, the first warplane to utilize both a variable-pitch prop and retractable gear on a mono-wing:
The P-82 Twin Mustang. The CAF has owned this thing ever since they moved their headquarters to Midland in 1991, and in that time it has never been airworthy:
The detrioration of the metal on the aileron is representative of the general decay of the rest of the plane:
A fully restored Allison V-12:
The only flying C-46 Commando I know of is housed in Midland:
Almost every airplane in the hangar is in some degree of teardown. This one was having an engine replaced:
A dichotomy in vertical stabilization:
Nacelle art on the Junkers:
A working cutaway of an R-1830:
Can you guess what this is? It's a pop-culture icon:
After touring the hangar, I went out into the warm sunshine and checked out the Viet Nam-era static displays. Dig the exhaust on the F-4 Phantom. You don't want to be in this vantagepoint during afterburn:
This Huey has seen better days:
Finally, a reminder that keeping these relics in the air occasionally extracts a price. The crash of the only airworthy B-26 Marauder in the world was national news in 1995. The bomber went down just south of Midland, killing its five crew members:
One last thing: As I was riding back into Midland, I kept seeing this weird contraption looming on the horizon from several miles away. Curious, I decided find the road that led to it and check it out. It hasn't been in place for very long, or I'd have noticed it. Can anybody tell me what this thing is?
A WWII-era glider:
Some pics from the walk-through C-54 display:
The C-54 in its prime:
A scale replica of Fat Man (incorrect shutter speed):
A scale replica of Little Boy (incorrect shutter speed):
A 6-foot by 8-foot display showing an arial photo of the Nagasaki aftermath. This is only a section of it:
The Norden Bombsight:
An M3 I found in the weapons displays:
50-cal, anyone?
Some fantastic aviation art. The walls are covered with it:
The Dragon and His Tail
The hangar is a mess right now because of winter maintenance. The CAF, for those of you who may not know, keeps as many of its aircraft in flying condition as possible. The first thing I noticed was the looming figure of Fifi, the CAF's B-29 Superfortress. She hasn't flown in several years due to major mechanical and structural problems, IIRC, but the CAF is apparently working very hard to get her back into the air:
Here's something you don't see anymore -- an airworthy T-33. Goodfellow used to fly these out of Mathis field in the early '80s, and I got to sit in one as a little kid while visiting family in San Angelo. Just seeing this thing in person and touching it brought back a lot of great memories:
The Polikarpov I-16, the first warplane to utilize both a variable-pitch prop and retractable gear on a mono-wing:
The P-82 Twin Mustang. The CAF has owned this thing ever since they moved their headquarters to Midland in 1991, and in that time it has never been airworthy:
The detrioration of the metal on the aileron is representative of the general decay of the rest of the plane:
A fully restored Allison V-12:
The only flying C-46 Commando I know of is housed in Midland:
Almost every airplane in the hangar is in some degree of teardown. This one was having an engine replaced:
A dichotomy in vertical stabilization:
Nacelle art on the Junkers:
A working cutaway of an R-1830:
Can you guess what this is? It's a pop-culture icon:
After touring the hangar, I went out into the warm sunshine and checked out the Viet Nam-era static displays. Dig the exhaust on the F-4 Phantom. You don't want to be in this vantagepoint during afterburn:
This Huey has seen better days:
Finally, a reminder that keeping these relics in the air occasionally extracts a price. The crash of the only airworthy B-26 Marauder in the world was national news in 1995. The bomber went down just south of Midland, killing its five crew members:
One last thing: As I was riding back into Midland, I kept seeing this weird contraption looming on the horizon from several miles away. Curious, I decided find the road that led to it and check it out. It hasn't been in place for very long, or I'd have noticed it. Can anybody tell me what this thing is?
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Interesting that the crash reports say the P82 stalled and crashed. The stall was intentional to reduce speed as much as possible before they hit the ground since they were lacking one landing gear. I did not realize that was the last flight. That was 21 years ago 
I was in my first semester at Texas A&M. Man... talk about things that make you feel old... 
