I travelled a lot for work last month, including a visit to Omaha, Nebraska - home to US STRATCOM and the museum of its forebear US STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (SAC).
The museum houses some fabulous exhibits and unique artefacts from the SAC era. Some of them my camera just couldn't do justice to, but here is a selection:
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B-1A 'Lancer' bomber - this one is the fourth and last built. First flown in 1979 as a test bed for the B-1B program |
Which then would pass targeting data and firing orders to launch platforms - airborne bombers, SSBNs at sea, and ICBM silos - like this MINUTEMAN launch facility
Readying these:
To deliver these to their targets:
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| Minuteman II ICBM delivery vehicle |
All the while General Curtis LeMay would have been at his desk:
As well as strike and C2 assets, Aerial Reconnaissance and Intel gathering was strongly supported in the Museum also
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| Lockheed U-2 "Dragon Lady" |
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| Gary Powers' Mission Map |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gary_Powers
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| Gary Powers' Silver Star, awarded posthumously in 2012, for "enduring nearly two years of harsh interrogation and imprisonment in Moscow" |
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| Specialised U-2 pilot suit |
Coincidentally, a week later in the Spy Museum in Washington DC, I came across these:
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| The fabulous SR-71 also greets you as you walk in the front door! |
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| I've got a thing for Sabres and MiG alley aircraft... |
There was an incredible array of other large SAC bombers that I just couldn't get descent pics of, but it was amazing to walk around them including two B17s, B36, B47, and Vulcan bomber.
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| B-29: one of 22 airframes remaining intact |
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| Just for you James! :-) |
Inside the B-29 cockpit, including the Norden aiming device
Separately, they had some neat Aerospace artefacts on display too
Not so coincidentally, I then attended the Offutt Air Force Base Airshow at the end of the week. Lots of great displays, including some historic warbirds.
But what most took me was the opportunity to clamber around inside a B-52 bomber. A USAF friend of mine retired last month, and I got a pic in his old seat in one of his old tail numbers, which was pretty cool.
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| Tail number 60-0060 "Iron Butterfly" |
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| B-52 Cockpit |
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| B-52 Navigator Station Yes- the same seat James Earl Jones occupied as Lt Lothar Zogg in the movie Dr Strangelove! |
Interestingly, the seats in this lower crew section eject downwards!
Thats all for this post folks!
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