Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Another relaxing day in Tucson, which started as usual with a relatively early wake-up (6am), then breakfast, a phone call with Tracy and on to do my chores for the day, this time sorting out paperwork and generally ensuring I was happy with my state of preparedness for the trip to Mexico tomorrow. I even put the panniers and top-box back on the bike, so that I'd have somewhere to stash my jacket later in the day when we went out.

With my chores done, it was time to head out to the Air & Space Museum, with Richard & Karen and Max (Christine wasn't well, having succumbed to her 2nd bout of the Trans-Am cold, which seems to be continually circulating within the group). Now, the Air & Space Museum is no ordinary museum, as it also offers coach tours round the “Boneyard”... officially known as AMARC - Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center. This is the place you might have seen where thousands of aircraft come to die (or get salvaged for parts, or refurbished and returned to service, or get their wings and tails painted red and converted into unmanned target drones...). It's seriously impressive... currently housing 4,300 aircraft and only at 60% of capacity, some 21% of which each year are either returned to flight. The guide on the coach is ex-air force and certainly knew his stuff, explaining the full history of all the aircraft down the “celebrity road” as well as explaining the way the aircraft designations work... so prepare to be educated...

First, the designations. They begin with one or more letters, which relate to the purpose and mission of the aircraft – so “A” is “attack”, “B” is “bomber”, “C” is “Cargo” and “F” is “fighter”... next is a model designation number (such as A10, or C-130)... then finally a further letter the designates the model generation number (so B52H is the 8th generation of the B52 bomber). Cool, eh?

Then the aircraft themselves. The best way to do this is with a photo and then an explanation, but as I've over 60 photos of them, I'll just include my favourites... first, the F14D (that'll be a fighter, type 14, generation 4) as flown by Maverick and Goose in Top Gun...





The A10 Thunderbolt (also known as “warthog”) - which I liked because it carries one mother of a gun, that is practically the size of the plane, fires rounds that are 12” long and weigh 2lbs, the warhead part of which is made from depleted uranium and weighs 1lb... and it fires 70 of them every second... think “road to Basra” and you can see how effective this ugly plane is...





I'm not going to include many more pictures, but suffice to say, the large number of C-130 Hercules planes in storage would have been impressive enough, were it not for this lot... a small section of the 700 or so F4 Phantom jets, which are being put back into service as either unmanned drones or for the 6 air-forces around the world that still use it (and remember, this was a plane used in anger in Vietnam...).





But the most impressive part of this impressive facility was the “boneyard” itself, where the aircraft go to die. When they cross the bridge they enter their final stages of life, are stripped of all useful parts and then cut into pieces and the bits sent for scrap. Here were row upon row of aircraft of all shapes and sizes in various stages of dismantling, including these helicopters...





When the tour finished we went and had a quick look round the museum. There was enough here to take up a full day, but we only had an hour or so, and so focused our attention on the WWII hangers, marvelling at the nose-art from the big bombers, which were displayed as a series of photos round one of the big hangers. Alongside each was when the aircraft was brought into service, how many missions it flew, and what happened to it. Very sobering, as most were lost in battle, many crashed somewhere, and only 1 made it back to the US at the end of the war... Also in the hanger was this fine example of a B-29 from the 330th Bomb group, which flew 26 missions between April and August 1945...





There was one final thing in the museum to help create an appropriately reflective mood... this flag, the first US flag to land on Utah beach on D-Day...





Suitably reflective, we headed back to the hotel. In the blistering heat of the day I completed the last of my chores, sending a box of stuff I don't need back home in order to lighten my load, and then headed into the pool to cool off for an hour or so before dinner. For our last meal in the US (breakfast at 5am tomorrow doesn't count), we went to the “Outback Steakhouse” just a block away and enjoyed a strange deep-fried onion (that looked like a Terry's Chocolate Orange when unwrapped and tapped), and a plate of BBQ ribs and chicken...

Then back for an early night ready for the early start tomorrow...