Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson AZ

Tucson, Arizona hosts the Pima Air and Space Museum on 6000 E. Valencia Rd., the largest museum of its type in the Western United States and arguably the largest privately funded aviation and space museum in the world. Open every day except Christmas and Thanksgiving, the Museum covers roughly eighty acres and has over two hundred aircraft on display. If you and your family are aviation fans, this museum is a “must see.”

There are four hangars, a Space Gallery, the 390th Memorial Museum, dedicated to the memory of the 390th Bombardment Group, and acres of aircraft outside on the grounds to peruse. Airplanes on display include a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, the Lockheed C-121A Constellation “Columbine” that General Dwight D. Eisenhower used during the early 1950’s and a Convair B-58A Hustler that was the last one manufactured in this series. President John F. Kennedy’s AF-#1 aircraft is on site, as well, and you can actually take a walk-through tour of it. There are many helicopters on the grounds, such as a Piasecki/Vertol HUP-3 (UH-25C) “Retriever,” Piasecki/Vertol H-21C “Shawnee,” also called a “Flying Banana,” and a Gyrodyne QH-50C (DSN-3) DASH, a remote control helicopter that was capable of carrying two torpedoes. There are also examples of aircraft that were used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. You can see a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis fighter, a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF all-weather interceptor, and a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI a dual control trainer, used to teach pilots how to fly. As you walk into Hangar 1, you will find a full-sized replica of the Wright Brothers’ original 1903 Wright “Flyer.”

Exhibits include the Arizona aviators’ Hall of Fame, Women in Flight, Black Aviation, Early Aviation, and Nose Art. Children of all ages can take off and zoom through canyons in a flight simulator. Visitors to the Space Gallery will see a full-sized model of an X-15 and explore the geology of Mars. If you are visiting the Gallery during the week, you might be able to watch local students participating in space flight simulations and experiments in the Challenger Learning Center.

The Museum offers both bus tours and docent-led tours of the grounds. For a small fee, you can take a one hour narrated bus tour of the grounds. Bus tours currently are scheduled four times a day. The docent tours cover all four hangars, last about one and one-half hours, and are conducted twice per day. The docent tours are included in the price of admission to the museum.

A half hour drive away is the Museum’s associated Titan Missile Museum, the only missile complex still in existence in the United States. The Titan Missile Museum was once Titan Missile Complex 571-7. You can tour the Complex, learn more about the Cold War, explore the history of Titan Missiles, and see the 110 foot tall Missile itself as you climb into the missile silo.

In addition, the Museum has an arrangement with the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, located next to the museum grounds, to conduct bus tours of their “Boneyard.” The Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, or AMARC, stores, fixes, tears down for parts, or “decommissions” military aircraft.

There are an incredible number of planes that you can see. The bus tours last for about an hour and reservations are strongly recommended. The Air Force only allows tours Monday through Friday and is also closed to the public on federal holidays.

Visiting the Museum can take a couple of hours on up to a full day to enjoy, depending on your level of interest. There is a gift shop and café for you on the premises. The Museum is open from 9 AM to 5 PM and will let you in up until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing, and especially, comfortable shoes.

Related Websites:

Pima Air an Space Museum

AMARC

-Laura Evans

Laura Evans is a native Californian and has traveled extensively throughout the Southwest. She is a Tutor, an Antique Dealer, and a Freelance Writer. Visit her at Antiques and Collectibles.