Tuesday - My sort of stuffHard to believe, but 5 minutes from the camp ground, that seemed like the middle of no-where, and we were in Tucson rush-hour traffic.
However, we had left good time and 45 minutes before it was open we were in the Pima ASM parking lot watching the aircraft taking off at Davis-Monthan, the beautify flowers at the entrance and marvelling at how it had got so warm so quickly even though it was still before 9am.
Naturally we were the first into the museum and the first on the list for the 11:30 AMARG Boneyard tour.
What a great museum – similar to the Wright Patterson AFB museum in Dayton OH, but with the big benefit of the boneyard tour. Their gift shop had a load of salvaged aircraft parts you could buy, but none of them looked like an appropriate fit for our truck or camper. Sally found some 20mm spent ammunition for sale but I pointed out that this wasn’t the sort of thing I wanted to be caught bringing in through customs at London Heathrow.
Then off around the boneyard - so many potential camper accessories here...
Saw this and thought of Janet and Chet...
We also saw the 747 used to test the laser weapons for Reagan's Star Wars program, and a Looking Glass plane - remember those? The cold war seems an age ago. For those who don't see James Earl Jones starring in 'By Dawn's Early Light'
After lunch at the museum (chilli burger) we headed south to the Titan 2 missile silo. Another great site to visit.
Where it all happened...
Hard to imagine getting the order, the other officer entering the code that unlocks the butterfly valve in the rocket fuel supply; trying to block out knowledge that the world was ending. Turn your launch control key; wait while your 2IC turns his; the lights go on one at a time - 'Launch enable', 'Batteries activated', 'APS power', 'Silo soft', 'Guidance go' and 'Fire engine' - all automatic - you've turned that key and there is no turning back.
Everything is isolated from the surrounding earth, protected from shock of a nearby Soviet detonation - even the cable runs in this walkway are spring mounted:
You wouldn't have wanted to get this view in the past:
A symbolic nesting ground:
In the evening we go to Gilbert Ray campground, listening to the sound of woodpecker versus street-light.
There are a few RVs at this one, including one TC. We dump the cassette toilet and the grey tank (the screwdriver comes in handy again tightening up the clip holding the end to the hose), and we fill up with water. This is the first time we’ve had hookup so I run up the AC to try it out – works, but noisy. Tucson didn’t get much above mid-90s during the day, and then cooled in the evening, so the AC was hardly essential, but nice to try out. I also tried the shower properly for the first time, which worked pretty well.
Stay tuned - turning the corner again...
