*Menu
Search
Submit
Mountain Home News
*
Faded Scenes and M-14's
Mike Bradbury
Recent posts
Archives

Some Airplanes West of Omaha

Posted Monday, February 13, 2012, at 8:20 AM

 

The old SAC headquarters at Offutt AFB in Nebraska (I don't think we call it "SAC" (Strategic Air Command) anymore........everything today has been 're-abbreviated" to confuse everybody!

Anyway, at Offutt, they used to have an outside static display area, that I remember seeing in 1979.  Over the years though, they built a very nice indoor display area where the classic warbirds can be kept out of the elements.  It's a few miles west of Omaha, and I stopped in to see it on my way back from Wright-Patterson.

                               Return from D.C 001

Now, THIS museum isn't "free" like the one at Wright-Patterson is, but the $10.00 admission is probably still helping to pay for whatever this place cost to build.  I didn't mind it though, there are some great airplanes in there!

Return from D.C 002               Return from D.C 003

The first real thing you see when you walk in the door, is this SR-71, mounted in a "gear-up" flight attitude, which I thought was very impressive!

Return from D.C 004               Return from D.C 035

Also from the "Lockheed Skunkworks" there's a U-2 hanging from the ceiling.

Return from D.C 033               Return from D.C 025

A McDonnell-Douglas F-101 "Voodoo"....and a Boeing KC-97 air refueling tanker.

Return from D.C 013               Return from D.C 034

THIS is one that I PARTICULARLY wanted to see,,,,,,,the massive Consolidated B-36 "Peacemaker"......the largest bomber ever built.

Return from D.C 006               Return from D.C 007

It weighed 435,000 lbs, and its 230-foot wingspan is 45 feet WIDER than the B-52's!  This is a BIG airplane.  It also carried a larger PAYLOAD than the "52", with it's 84,000 lb bomb capacity (opposed to 60,000 for the B-52),  Propeller-driven though, it couldn't get the payload there as quickly as the all-jet B-52, so its days as a strategic bomber were numbered.

Return from D.C 012               Return from D.C 010

It has six 4360 radial engines with PUSHER PROPS that are 19 ft in diameter.  Take-off power is also augmented by a twin pod of J-47 jets on each wing.   I'd love to get a shot of a B-36 OUTSIDE on a ramp, where you could stand BACK  about 150 feet and get it all in one shot!

          Return from D.C 031                Return from D.C 028

You're looking at some "HEAVY DUTY" landing gear on that thing, and you're also looking at an "XF-85 Goblin" parasite fighter, that the Air Force experimented with, on the B-36.  It would be carried in the bomb bay, dropped for "recon" purposes, then the pilot would fly it back to the "mother ship" where he would get it back into the "cradle" with that black "hook" assembly you see above & behind its nose there.

Return from D.C 029            Return from D.C 030

It was a goofy-lookin' thing that never really "caught fire" with anyone topside, and was eventually shelved.

Return from D.C 027              Return from D.C 026

And F-102 Delta Dagger.........and a BRITISH bomber you don't see everyday (unless you have the James Bond movie "Thunderball"), an Avro "Vulcan"

Return from D.C 014              Return from D.C 015

A Boeing B-47 Stratojet-----it was just "crowded enough" in places, where I couldn't always get the shot angles I wanted, but I was still enjoying my visit.

Return from D.C 018              Return from D.C 019

With its delta-wings and 4 huge General Electric J-79's, slung under it, the B-58 "Hustler" set several speed records for bombers, (there's 1 or 2 that might still stand).

Return from D.C 016            Return from D.C 017

THIS Hustler, nicknamed "greased lightning" was one of those record setters----------------Tokyo to London in 8 hrs and 35 minutes.

Return from D.C 011

When have you ever seen a B-45??????

                                                              Return from D.C 021

And last but certainly not LEAST........I can NEVER pass up a PHANTOM!  This is an RF-4C, (recon bird).

***The Pima Country Air Museum in Tucson is worth the trip, so is the one in McMinnevile Oregon, (where the Spruce Goose is the main attraction).  A bit closer to home.......there is a very nice air museum just outside of Hill AFB in Ogden, right off the freeway***

Comments
View 10 comments
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

  • I used to live outside the back gate at Offutt AFB back in the early 70's. My ex- husband worked at the headquarters there. He did something with the "Looking Glass" I can't remember what it was he did anymore. To long ago! Before that he worked at the Pentagon...

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 9:26 AM

  • One of these days I'll have to check out the War Birds here in Nampa. I hear it's nice.

    -- Posted by royincaldwell on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 1:26 PM

  • I lived at 2712 Crawford St Bellevue, NE Just down the street from the Catholic church I went to and where my boys made communion. I could see the Museum from my back yard.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 1:40 PM
  • *

    When I was a boy in the 50's, we were able to sit in the seats of B-17s, B-27s, B-29's, C-47's, B-47s and B-52s, F86s, T-33s, F104s. All HANDS on the stick, ALL just 10 miles from home. It happened each May at "Open House".

    When I was 17, I watched an XB-71 LAND at MHAFB from just west of Highway 51. It was eerie the shadow it cast as it glided into land. No sound, except a swoosh of the air lifting the wings, no con trail, no nothing. It wasn't on the ground for more than a few seconds when it was covered with tarps on the tarmack.

    Rumors a few days later were that BOTH engines had flamed out over Utah and it glided (something like a rock?) to MHAFB because it wasn't high enough to make it back to Edwards and MHAFB was the only facility that had enough runway to hold the weight AND long enough to stop the bird.

    There was a roar during the night that I have always suspected was the black bird going home.

    The Mobile Alabama air museum has one on display.

    Could it be the SAME crippled bird I saw?????

    I like to think so.

    -- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 1:53 PM
  • *

    By the way Zook, GREAT photo's as usual.

    -- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 1:55 PM
  • *

    The RF-4c was the first bird at MHAFB after SAC "left". It has a distinctive "whine" that most locals back then didn't like. It was also capable of breaking the sound barrier. The local folks really didn't like that EARTH SHAKING sound.

    The birds flew recon TRAINING missions up and down the Snake River canyon from Melba to near Twin Falls. I actualy SAW pictures of what was suspected to be a 15 foot PLUS long sturgeon between Swan Falls Dam and Grandview. I TALKED with a Fish and Game biologist who had hooked that fish and took a 13 foot boat out in the river to try to get it to swim toward shore so they could "beach it"long enough to take measurements.

    The fish slapped the side of the boat with it's tail and swam away. The young college student in the front of the boat said the fish's nose was at least two feet in front of the boat. The biologist swore the tail was a foot or two BEHIND the boat.

    Did I mention that the fish stripped the gears in an 8,000 pound Warn winch several weeks BEFORE the boat incident?

    Of course, ALL fishermen are liars except you and me, but sometimes I wonder about you.....

    :-)

    -- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 2:13 PM

  • David and I went to OK City a few years ago. They had B-52 in the parking lot on display for a gun show.

    They are huge! It was like walking a city block from end to end.

    I haven't been to the Omaha Museum. Someday. It is about 3-4 hours away.

    -- Posted by KH Gal on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 2:25 PM

  • first time on and i put the comment on wrong story. anyway it is a excellant story

    -- Posted by larry c hammett on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 2:37 PM
  • *

    The B-52 looked like an albatross taking off from the ground. The wing tips would appear to rise and flap several times before the plane lifted off.

    During the Cuban missile crisis, I was with my Dad at work (on base) and remember an ashen look coming over his face as plane after plane after plane took to the air.

    It was a "launch" and he knew it and my mother and my sister were miles away.

    That must have been a real terror to him.

    -- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Feb 13, 2012, at 5:01 PM
  • *

    GREAT photos Mike! That's more than awesome. Love your blogs like this.

    And welcome aboard Larry! It's fun 'in here"

    -- Posted by jessiemiller on Tue, Feb 14, 2012, at 8:25 AM
Respond to this blog

Posting a comment requires free registration: