FlyPast 12.2018

http://www. ypast.com

T

he Pima Air and Space Museum was founded in 1966 and opened to the

public

as part of the United States’ Bicentennial celebration in May 1976.

From the

beginning the museum featured nearly 50 aircraft gathered f

rom the US Air

Force storage yards in Tucson, and from other sources as far away a

s India. Over

the next 42 years the museum worked to gather one of the most di

verse and largest

aviation collections in the world. More than 350 aircraft are

displayed in five

exhibit hangars and on 80-plus acres of outdoor display groun

ds. These aircraft

range from 1920s era biplanes to examples of the latest aviation te

chnology such as

a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The museum also hosts the independ

ent 390th Memorial

Museum dedicated to the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Wo

rld War II 390th

Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force. Additionally, th

e partner Titan Missile

Museum is housed at the site of a decommissioned Titan II Intercon

tinental Ballistic

Missile silo in Green Valley, Arizona approximately 20 miles s

outh of Tucson.

http://www.pimaair.org

DESERT

GEMS

AboveIn 1959, this Boeing KB-50J 49-0372 was operated by the 4505th Air Refuelling Wing.Front coverLockheed VC-121A Constellation 48-0614 was one of two ‘Connies’ assigned to Dwight D Eisenhower.