Updated w/Erickson Collection (P-51, B17, Corsair, Skyraider…)-Living Air Museum-Historic Aircraft ….Spruce Goose, SR-71, F-117, & C47A D-Day Flyer

[civilsmoker]

noboundaries

This one is for you…..it’s a little rough but still way cool. This one is at the Tillamook Air Museum……

 

[civilsmoker]

The Tillamook Air Museum is located in one of the WWII commissioned blimp hangers…..it is a sight on its own. My wife and I have been going to this since it opened as an aircraft museum back in 1994. Many of the original aircraft have been moved to another museum (Ericksons I’m central Oregon, fingers crossed we can make a stop…). Just for perspective 3 spruce gooses could fit wing to wing to wing inside this thing. It’s a wooden truss arch structure…..it’s just shy of 300 feet wide and over 1000ft long…..there were two of these originally (one burned down) the first took 9 months to build and the this one the second unit 29 days to build…..

Just for some perspective the plane in the first pic is a C27A and the one to the left in the second is a F-14A Tomcat

 

[civilsmoker]

This aircraft is a fav of mine!!

This particular F-14A is the very aircraft the Top Gun move mig story was based on. It was actually in the movie as well!

This has lines that are ver similar to the SE-71….the pics speak for themselves…..

 

[civilsmoker]

These three are for Brokenhandle ….

 

[Brokenhandle]

These three are for Brokenhandle ….
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Oh the good ole days!
While all the plane pics are very cool I appreciate these pics as well. If you stop and think how much time farmers spent using these tractors in the field. My dad is 87, took over the family farm at the age of 18 when his dad died. Remember him telling stories of his dad and farming with horses.

Thanks Civil, I appreciate it!

Ryan

 

[civilsmoker]

Oh the good ole days!
While all the plane pics are very cool I appreciate these pics as well. If you stop and think how much time farmers spent using these tractors in the field. My dad is 87, took over the family farm at the age of 18 when his dad died. Remember him telling stories of his dad and farming with horses.

Thanks Civil, I appreciate it!

Ryan

You are welcome Ryan! My 2nd Gpa had a horse drawn road scraper…… I have a pic of it in a family history book….. just way cool!

They have about 30 tractors all lined up but I only took pics of the ones that were pre-1940….. I think this one is an around the 40s or so but the hand operated blade….. Farmers knew how to get things done!

Oh and just so you know we had a combine with a 34ft head as a design vehicle for my project that just went to bid (220M ish project). It has 4 machine passes for farming access so we did all kinds of research on tractor sizes and combine sizes for the field sizes around (within reason) and we ended up setting a 15ft height with 40 width opening for them all. A future project has a machine overpass so we made sure the guard rail to guard rail clear opening was 38 ft wide as well…… the old bridge is 23-24 ish and one farmer got his 24ft head wedged in between the guardrail and it took two weeks to get it out…..had to take it all apart…….

 

[civilsmoker]

the have a bunch of engines and jets on display from all kinds of things but check out the anti-loosen wires….. the wires are like spiderwebs all over the whole engine…..

This is from a F4C J79 Jet…..

This was next to the engine…..it has a cool story to go with it

 

[Smokin Okie]

Oh the good ole days!
While all the plane pics are very cool I appreciate these pics as well. If you stop and think how much time farmers spent using these tractors in the field. My dad is 87, took over the family farm at the age of 18 when his dad died. Remember him telling stories of his dad and farming with horses.

Thanks Civil, I appreciate it!

Ryan

Hope Civil doesn't mind me indulging in taking the thread off track.

Here's my Dad putting one of those tractors to use. This pic is probably right after WW II or maybe 1940'ish.

And speaking of farming with horses, this is my Grandad.

Sad sign of the times here in Oklahoma, there's now a marijuana grow on the site of the old family farm.

 

[Rmann]

The wife and boy made a found a surprise museum today on the coast of Oregon……the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museums……

First up the Aircraft that is truly one of a kind…..

The Spruce Goose!!!!
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Yes it is really made out of wood laminate…..
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A view of the tail section. The model guy is 6ft ant the door in the tail is 5ft just for perspective…..
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A view of the nose cone and hydraulic pumps….
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The wing span is huge…..just a pic down the inside of the wing……
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Next up the cockpit……note the coffee machine at the right of the pic….
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Looking back from the front…..the big box to the left is the onboard generator motors that ran till the engines that had generators in them.
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And now sitting in the pilot seat…….its a rare thing to say you have shared a seat that Howard Hughes sweat bullets as he flew this thing for the first time……
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And one would have to look out the hatch above the pilot chair to see the wing full of engines….
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Next up one of the most exotic aircraft ever built……UP CLOSE and PERSONAL!!!!! The SR-71 Blackbird……it’s a bird that blows your mind after being on the largest ever wood float plane…..
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And now some pics of things I have never before seen on previous exhibits of the 71…..the hidden but not hidden P&W turbojet engines……
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Wow…..
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Mind blown WOW……the tail cone….ceramic (looks like anyway) coated everything…..
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Ever wonder how the swap jets out…..well here you go……just pop the hood…..
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A shot at the open hatch at the tail section……..just look and how clean every part is……this is pre-cnc!!
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Oh just look at how smooth and sleek…….yes I am under the tall snapping this pic!
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This bird was one of the last 3 in service flying for NASA after they were retired…….Ive seen other exhibits of this beauty but this one was so up front and personal I felt like I need to go do a confessional or something afterwards……pure amazement……

This baby is rough is it’s in full restoration mode but the F-117View attachment 697128
All the “secrete” panels have been removed and last time is saw one was at a distance behind MPs with no touchy sticks….

And last but not least……this one brought tears to my eyes……. The iconic C-47A! It was missing from its spot but the boy spotted it behind the buildings as it’s being sent off to be restored…..
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This particular bird flew not one but 3 missions on D-Day towing the early gliders and followed by carrying members of the 101st! It also flew them in operation Market Garden……..

So how to you top off a memorable day like this……well you have some good grub over looking the Tillamook Bay…..
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Roasted red pepper aioli calamari……
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I mean YUM YUM!!!!
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And the finish……certified black angus NW NY with dungeoness crab and CI seared sides….
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Enjoy and thanks for letting me share….

Thanks for taking the time to post

 

[civilsmoker]

Hope Civil doesn't mind me indulging in taking the thread off track.

Here's my Dad putting one of those tractors to use. This pic is probably right after WW II or maybe 1940'ish.

And speaking of farming with horses, this is my Grandad.

Sad sign of the times here in Oklahoma, there's now a marijuana grow on the site of the old family farm.

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Cool pics! Thanks for sharing!

 

[civilsmoker]

Thanks for taking the time to post

Thanks and you are welcome!

If luck shines on us we will have one more stop to see some more…..Memorial Day and all on Monday…….

 

[mr_whipple]

the have a bunch of engines and jets on display from all kinds of things but check out the anti-loosen wires….. the wires are like spiderwebs all over the whole engine…..

This is from a F4C J79 Jet…..
View attachment 697413

We call that stuff "safety wire" and is what these are for. When you just gotta stab a hole in the tip of your finger and bleed everywhere, reach for the safety wire.

 

[Norwester55]

The Tillamook Air Museum is located in one of the WWII commissioned blimp hangers…..it is a sight on its own. My wife and I have been going to this since it opened as an aircraft museum back in 1994. Many of the original aircraft have been moved to another museum (Ericksons I’m central Oregon, fingers crossed we can make a stop…). Just for perspective 3 spruce gooses could fit wing to wing to wing inside this thing. It’s a wooden truss arch structure…..it’s just shy of 300 feet wide and over 1000ft long…..there were two of these originally (one burned down) the first took 9 months to build and the this one the second unit 29 days to build…..
View attachment 697400
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Just for some perspective the plane in the first pic is a C27A and the one to the left in the second is a F-14A Tomcat

That building covers over 7 acres and is the biggest wooden clear span structure in the world. The one that burnt down was full of hay at the time and living 7 miles to the north I thought the whole town of Tillamook had to have been on fire. It lit up the whole southern sky.

 

[civilsmoker]

We call that stuff "safety wire" and is what these are for. When you just gotta stab a hole in the tip of your finger and bleed everywhere, reach for the safety wire.

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Very cool pliers and I do know of the safety wire coloring liquid….. that’s some funny stuff!

That building covers over 7 acres and is the biggest wooden clear span structure in the world. The one that burnt down was full of hay at the time and living 7 miles to the north I thought the whole town of Tillamook had to have been on fire. It lit up the whole southern sky.

Kinda sad about the hanger A for sure, I believe there are a total of 7 of the original 18 across the US. Some have been condemned and I know the port is trying to raise funds via the non-profit to do repairs and maintenance to hanger B. I hope they can get enough as its history that won’t ever be replaced. I know when Erickson had his collection in the hanger it was an incredible showing for sure (P-51D, Corsair (F4U-7), Martin AM-1 Maulers, ME-109 - just to name a few), however it is still worth a visit if nothing else to see the hanger.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
Oh and just so you know we had a combine with a 34ft head as a design vehicle for my project that just went to bid (220M ish project). It has 4 machine passes for farming access so we did all kinds of research on tractor sizes and combine sizes for the field sizes around (within reason) and we ended up setting a 15ft height with 40 width opening for them all. A future project has a machine overpass so we made sure the guard rail to guard rail clear opening was 38 ft wide as well…… the old bridge is 23-24 ish and one farmer got his 24ft head wedged in between the guardrail and it took two weeks to get it out…..had to take it all apart…….
...

40 foot headers are the norm here, but we are flat landers. Some have 44's, but have yet to see the newer 50 foot.
Design with reason and tell the farmers to trailer their headers. Roads are designed for licensed vehicles

 

[civilsmoker]

40 foot headers are the norm here, but we are flat landers. Some have 44's, but have yet to see the newer 50 foot.
Design with reason and tell the farmers to trailer their headers. Roads are designed for licensed vehicles

Oh we heard about the big headers for sure but the small rolling fields would never pencil them.

This part of the interstate is also on an easement (not owned by the state) and the easement specifies the crossing in a specific way so we had to “make sure” we were satisfying the intent from 1948 when it was written. We also interviewed the operating farmers and none of them had any plans for headers bigger than 34 ft. The rolling slopes just wouldn’t work with much bigger.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Civil, that is some awesome stuff… thanks for sharing! I know BGKYSmoker had a lot of experience with military aircraft. Thanks for your service Rick!

So, I work for a contractor for the Navy… we see some pretty cool stuff for sure!

 

[civilsmoker]

Civil, that is some awesome stuff… thanks for sharing! I know BGKYSmoker had a lot of experience with military aircraft. Thanks for your service Rick!

So, I work for a contractor for the Navy… we see some pretty cool stuff for sure!

Thanks Rafter! BGKYSmoker has stories I know I would love to hear that I know he can’t share…..I’m suspecting you have some as well!

 

[civilsmoker]

We were able to make a quick stop at the Erickson Collection….most of these were in the Tillamook Air Museum before the move to Madras OR about 10 years ago… the family had been visiting them there for almost 20 years till they moved…..it was so cool to see them again…..much better camera this time!!!

This is one of 4 surviving AM-1 Martins Mauler…it is static (one of Ericksons few static).

PV-2 Harpoon, the first model D out of only 35 built….

This is the last surviving B-17 Pathfinder build in the world…. Airworthy……just WOW!!!

This one is for noboundaries so he can roll over and have a smoke!!! - Airworhy

45% of the length is engine……

This Skyraider was used in the movie Devotion.

This corsair is painted in honor of Jessie Leroy Brown….. it is one of the rarest surviving variants, ie 1 of the last 94 built in 1954 for the French Navy (Airworthy and was in Devotion)

And finally a airworthy Me-109

They have a second B-17G that they are restoring…..I snapped a pic of the wings for the engineering value….

Thanks all for indulging me in our sight seeing trip to celebrate Memorial Day and the up and coming 80th of D-day…….

 

[civilsmoker]

We took the Tigereye to Paris airshow, this was 1985.
We built in Palmdale Plant 42, Northrop Aircraft div. The nose camera could take pics/vid from horizon to horizon sides, fwd and aft.

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Very cool BGKY! The engineering and craftsman’s that goes into these aircraft leave me speechless! Oh not to mention the stress and strain modeling!