Tag Archives: preserved

The Edwards Museum

Edwards AFB has been the home to an amazing range of interesting aircraft types.  Many of them have found their way to prominent museums around the country given the significance of what they achieved.  Others never found interest and got disposed of.  Some never lasted long enough to be preserved given the hazardous nature of what they did.  However, there was a storage program for the rest and Edwards has a museum of some of these preserved airframes.

I haven’t been to Edwards for a long time so I don’t know what the current situation is with the collection but I did get to check it out on a previous visit.  The collection was mainly front line types that had been used for testing purposes.  (This is the USAF side of things rather than the NASA collection.)  There are some types there that I didn’t see which I would like to have done like the YA-7F.  However, there was a test A-7D with an air data boom.  Here are some of the shots I got that day.  I also shot a couple of other jets that were away from the rest but these were only with my phone and phone quality in those days was not what it is now.

Big Steam Engines

In the days of steam, power was produced by huge machines.  If you needed a more powerful machine, you just made it bigger.  The huge wheels and pistons that resulted were most impressive.  The Henry Ford has quite a selection of these old steam engines of various designs.  The efficiency improved as they introduced multiple phases to the machines to recover more work from the output of the engine.  The big beams and pistons remained a theme, though.  The large brick structures and the associated metalwork have been nicely preserved and displayed.

Another Preserved Loco

Preserved locomotives seem to appear in a lot of towns in Washington and Newhalem was no exception.  This old steam locomotive seemed to be particularly well preserved given the rugged location it lives in for a good chunk of the year.  I assume Seattle City Light has enough cash to keep it looking good for the many visitors to the town.  Indeed, getting a shot of it without someone climbing all over it took a bit of patience!

City Center Steam Locomotive

I passed this locomotive several times while in Tokyo.  It was sitting in a square near Shinbashi station.  I never got off but I did finally get some shots of it while we were stopped at the station.  Consequently, I know nothing about it although I suppose if I was truly interested I could look it up.  There must be something about it on the internet.  It probably has a Wikipedia page.  Guess I won’t find out though.

Redundant Capstan

There are three sets of lock gates on the main lock at Ballard.  If the two end sets are used, the full length of the lock is available.  However, if that isn’t needed, a middle set of gates can be used which reduces the amount of water displaced.  The gates are now moved by hydraulic rams.  That wasn’t always the case though.  Alongside each set of gates are some capstans.  Now preserved and serving only a decorative function, they are a reminder that things used to be a bit more manual.  The markings of the manufacturer are nicely maintained on the top of each capstan as a testament to companies long gone that used to make such engineering efforts.

The Constellation in the Inner Harbor

The USS Constellation is the last sail powered warship built for the US Navy.  She is now preserved in the harbor in Baltimore.  I saw her a few times from a distance while I was in Baltimore but I didn’t get a chance to take a shot until I was walking back from a reception.  By that time it was dark and, since I only had my phone with me, that had to suffice.  The phone on the camera has a wide angle lens so, even though we were quite close, the ship is a little small in the original shot.  However, she still looks pretty impressive.  I imagine she would have looked even better when under sail!

Preserved KC-97

A strange airfield means time for a trip around the perimeter to see what is around.  Medford didn’t disappoint.  A small museum included a nicely preserved Boeing KC-97 tanker aircraft.  Sadly, everything was closed up so I couldn’t take a closer look.  Meanwhile, the fencing around it was pretty close in so it was a bit of struggle to get a clean shot but there will still some options.  The boom was no longer fitted but, otherwise, it looked just like you would hope.

F-16 on a Pole

Our overnight stop at Medford in Oregon was close to the airport. I took a stroll towards the terminal which had an F-16 mounted on a pole outside.  This was an F-16A model.  I assume it had been there for quite a while.  There was a time a while back when units would detail bits of their jets with chrome.  A-10 guns would be chromed and F-16s would have the port around their guns chromed up too.  This jet had obviously had the treatment.  The odd thing was that, over the years the paint had become heavily faded.  However, the gun port looked exactly like new.  These pictures won’t really emphasize this since they were taken wide to get the whole jet in but you might just be able to make out the gun port.

A Quick Walk Around the Museum

After Hobbo had finished his talk and was setting up for autographs, I took a quick wander around the main floor of the museum.  Some exhibits were gone to make space for the presentation but there were still plenty of cars on show.  Things have been rearranged since my previous visit which I wrote about here.  I knew that time was tight for me and I would need to go but I did get a few shots of some of the cars before calling time and heading home.

B-58 Hustler

wpid12907-QB5Y2167.jpgA few people I know recently had pictures up on Facebook of the B-58 Hustler bomber. This was a supersonic bomber from the cold war era. It was a beast of an aircraft and one that I would love to have seen in action. Sadly, they were all withdrawn from service long before I had a chance to see one. However, there are a few of them scattered around museums and I have seen them in person, even if it is not quite the same. I thought I would throw in a few shots of my own of these outstanding looking jets.

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