Last day in Tucson

On our final day in Tucson, we decided to go to the Pima Air and Space Museum.  Not that we're huge aviation buffs, but we thought it might be interesting - according to all the great reviews this place received on TripAdvisor.  So, off we went.  We were NOT disappointed!  We took both add-on tours, one was a bus tour to the nearby Air Force base, and the other was a tram ride around the grounds with explanation all the way, of course.  

Here are a few photos:

First, the entrance to the Air Force Base

Among other things, they store planes here (Military airplanes only) - lots and LOTS of planes!

Some of the aircraft are in an area where they might be recalled to active duty again.  Some are in what is known as "the bone yard".  Here they are stripped down essentially for parts.  We were taken to both areas and saw lots of interesting older model military planes. 

After the bus tour to the Air Force Base, we came back to the museum and took the tram tour around the 180 acres of all sorts of planes, both military and otherwise.  John had Suz pose next to a Blue Angels jet.

We could put oodles of plane photos in here but will hold it to just a few that we were most impressed with.  Suz is very interested in history, and particularly in WWII history.  She was excited to get to see an English Hurricane fighter plane in person - something she has read about in lots of books about the war. Here are a few snaps:

"Hurricane" fighter - the star in the Battle of Britain, 1940

A close up of the side of the fighter -  showing a Swastika for each German plane this pilot shot down.

Then a photo of the Englishman with the Hurricane.  :-)  John's dad was in the British Army, not the RAF, but had to get a shot of him next to the plane anyway!

The museum has a case showing WWII memorabilia (most of it sort of specific to Arizona). One of the things in the case was a "Plane Game". John explained that when he was a kid..... looooong ago, even after the war, the English kids were expected to learn and recognize the silhouettes of airplanes. They needed to know if the planes were friend OR foe! So they had "flash cards" of all different planes, from different angles and learned them all. In the case, we saw a very similar game! 

Keeping in the WWII theme, Suz was fascinated with the V-1 Rocket, also known as the "buzz bomb".  These rockets tormented the people of England and unfortunately killed a lot of civilians towards the end of the war, after the "traditional" type of bombings had stopped.  Again, something she'd read about, but never seen. 

So, there you have it, our interesting visit to Pima Air and Space Museum. Yes, there was a "Space" section but we didn't make it to that area. After all, we've been to the Kennedy Space Center - or is it called Cape Canaveral? At any rate, it was an amazing place as well. 

Next up, we leave Arizona and enter previously (to us!) uncharted territories... aka: New Mexico!  Hope you'll keep following along :)