This is a picture of a sculpture at the entrance to the museum:
The museum has a very large collection of aircraft basically from the era just before WWII to the end of the Cold War. Here are a few that I thought stood out:
A Martin Mariner seaplane from 1940:
A B-36 Bomber from the early Cold-War era:
That is one huge airplane. It is powered by six 28-cylinder rotary piston engines and four jet engines.
This is a Lockheed Constellation that was assigned to General Eisenhower from 1950 to 1952:
A B-17 from WWII:
A B-24 Bomber from WWII. The B-24 was the airplane that had the highest number of planes produced in the history of American aviation...over 18,000 in total, and many more than the number of B-17's produced:
A B-29, the model plane that ended the war with the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
All in all, a very nice collection maintained by some very dedicated volunteers.
Next, I headed over to the Arizona Transportation Museum in downtown Tucson. This was pretty much it for the transportation museum, although I did think that downtown Tucson seemed very nice:
After that, I headed south to San Xavier to visit the Mission of San Xavier, otherwise known as the White Dove of the Desert. The mission was originally founded in 1692 and the current church was built between 1783 and 1797 and is widely considered the finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the United States. Here are a few pics:
The front of the Mission:
A view of the inside of the chapel, which is currently undergoing restoration:
A view of the interior courtyard:
And another view of the Mission from an adjacent hill:
The Mission is very beautiful and is well worth the visit.
Next, I headed down to Sahuarita for the Titan II Missile Museum. The museum is an actual Titan II missile silo complex that was active from 1963 to 1982. The Titan II was the largest ballistic missile the US produced during the Cold War, and after being taken from front-line duty, it is still being used to launch space missions. The were a total of 54 Titan II sites in Arizona, Kansas, and Arkansas. The tour was given my a gentleman who was stationed in a Titan II silo from 1974 to 1978.
This gives a pretty good summary of the Titan II program:
We actually walked down into the silo and the control room. Unfortunately, Dr. Strangelove was at the main control consol today:
He actually did get to push the "button."
Here is a shot of the control room:
And this is the passageway from the control room to the silo itself, about 300 feet away from the control room:
And here is an actual Titan II missile in the silo ready for launch by Dr. Strangelove:
The tour was very interesting and made me appreciate the people who continue to man these facilities today.
After emerging from the underground bunker, I looked up and there was some serious weather moving in, so I decided to get outta Dodge and head on down I-10 to Lordsburg, NM, where I planned to spend the night tonight. I got about 40 miles south of Tucson and it became apparent that the rain and lightning were going to get to me before I could outrun them, so I stopped in Vail, AZ to see if the weather would pass me on by. I was there about half an hour when I decided to go ahead and head for Lordsburg. As I was getting ready to leave the little town, I noticed a sizable puddle of oil beneath the bike. Not good. I had some work done on the bike while I was in Phoenix, and it looks like the Chandler HD dealer may have left something undone. So, I headed back up toward Phoenix (at a reduced speed) and I'll be at the dealer first thing in the morning. Hopefully, they'll be able to fix whatever is leaking and I'll be on my way.
Miles today: 297
Total: 5,814