Yesterday was veterans day. My father was a marine and a pilot, and just like I find my mojo on a motorcycle, he found his in the air. To this day, I’m a sucker for an air Museum. I’ve been driving by falcon field on the way to work for months now, and I’ve wanted to check it out. Veterans day seemed like a good day to do it.
Falcon field had a short military history: It was opened 4 months before Pearl Harbor was bombed, with the Intent to train British and American Pilots. 3 years after the war it was deeded to the city of Mesa as a municipal Airport. Its a small, but pretty cool museum.
Maybe the most influential fighter of any era, the P-51 has always been my favorite. It had the horsepower, ceiling,range, firepower and everything else to turn the tide of air supremacy of WWII. It did just that.
F-4 Falcon…. I read somewhere once that the F-4 is proof that anything can fly if you put a big enough engine in it.
Inside the cockpit of the F-4 Falcon. This is where you kicked some ass.
WWII dog tag machine. I thought it was kinda interesting.
The B-25 Mitchell Bomber. Jimmy Doolittle figgered out how to launch these off an aircraft carrier in the wind to bomb Tokyo as a fuck you to Japan after bombing Pearl Harbor. America needed some morale. Now, In the shop, getting some maintenance.
As I drove in, I got to watch this beautiful old B-17G bomber fly over my head and land after flying over the veterans day parade. I’m not going to lie: I got a chubby.
A helluva good day. I came home and watched P-51 dogfights. I hope you had a happy veterans day!
