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This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
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NMUSAF landing ???????

Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:32 pm

My wife and i got to go in june [GREAT place!!!] but where do they land the planes? i looked on google and the east-west runway, [the only one left] had Xs on it. do they make an exception when they are bring in a plane for the museum? thanks

Sat Aug 01, 2009 3:49 pm

yes

Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:00 pm

Wright-Patterson actually has two fields. The Area where the Air Force Museum is located has no active runways, but if you look to the northeast you will see actice runways. That is where anything flown in would laND. in most cases I would imagine aircraft are simply trucked to the museum as many are not flyable.

Sat Aug 01, 2009 4:53 pm

that last time anything was trucked from one field to the other is when the museum moved. they landed the C-141 right at the museum, as well as Shoo Shoo Baby.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsh ... ?fsID=3981

Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:17 pm

Matt Gunsch wrote:that last time anything was trucked from one field to the other is when the museum moved. they landed the C-141 right at the museum, as well as Shoo Shoo Baby.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsh ... ?fsID=3981


There are a good number of aircraft that do not arrive under their own power: The Swoose, Memphis Belle, XF-90, the Beaufighter for a few. While many may arrive inside another aircraft I would bet some arrive by truck.

Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:45 pm

If you want to get "technical" yes, some arrive in trucks, but the original question was, do they land planes for the museum on the closed runways, to which the answer is YES

Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:59 pm

ALL of you are wrong! Don't you guys know that the NMUSAF cuts the wing spars on all of their flyable aircraft, so there's no way one could land there under it's own power.


Hahaha. :D



*Lobs grenade and runs before getting butt kicked by mustangdriver*

Sat Aug 01, 2009 6:15 pm

warbird1 wrote:ALL of you are wrong! Don't you guys know that the NMUSAF cuts the wing spars on all of their flyable aircraft, so there's no way one could land there under it's own power.


Hahaha. :D



*Lobs grenade and runs before getting butt kicked by mustangdriver*


No they do that AFTER they get there, so they can't escape...................

Sat Aug 01, 2009 6:41 pm

I understand both the SR-71 and B-1B were landed on the old Wright Field runway. I heard that the Bone blew out half it's tires getting stopped.

I think the most recent thing to land there was that wacky Convair (C-131?) with the George Jetson Car looking thing stuck on the front last year.

I've heard that most of the burnt-out wreckage of the original B-17 prototype is actually buried somewhere on the field. I think it would be cool if they could find it and recover a few artifacts for display.

SN

Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:24 pm

I landed there in a Cessna 421 in '93 or '94 on a special day that they allowed civilian fly ins.

What a cool way it was to get to the museum. Wish they would still do that.

Greg

Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:15 pm

The B-36 landed there in 1959 (the last flight of a B-36) and then they built the hangar around it.

Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:23 am

I think the B-36 actually landed at Patterson, where it was displayed outdoor. It was towed to Wright Field when the current museum was built in 1971.

SN

Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:52 am

Steve Nelson wrote:I think the B-36 actually landed at Patterson, where it was displayed outdoor. It was towed to Wright Field when the current museum was built in 1971.

SN


No, the B-36 there was scrapped, the one in the museum was flown there for the museum. Soplata has the remains of the original B-36.

Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:23 am

So did the NMUSAF's current B-36 sit outdoors at Wright Field from 1959 until the current museum was built in 1970? Not trying to be a smart-a$$, I'm just trying to sort out the historical timeline.

SN

B-36/VC-137

Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:25 am

I have pics from many years back (Im dating myself) showing a B-36 there around 1961 when my parents took me to the museum when it was located on base. I heard from my parents that on this B-36 the tail fell off and almost hit someone so they scrapped it; this might be the Sopata B-36.

BTW, my brother-in-law related to me when they flew one of his old birds into the NMUSAF (VC-137 also known as a 707) they left WPAFB with enough fuel for 2 passes and then they had to land it back at WPAFB to try again. Got it stopped OK on the first pass.

BTW #2: when I was there with the CAF P-51 for the NMUSAF Tattoo flyover I asked around WPAFB if anyone remembers where the museum was located when it was on base; sadly everyone was younger than me! In the downwind for the pattern I tried to find it from the backseat but was unable to locate it.
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