WINGS OVER THE ROCKIES AIR & SPACE MUSEUM (Mark)

If you look closely you might notice this plane is up on concrete blocks, no runway is available, and it is surrounded by a parking lot and buildings. 

This is the entrance to the Air Museum.  And if you are in Denver, I highly recommend taking the time to explore the Museum.

(Cheri and I aren't taking separate vacations; we've just gotten out of sync in posting.)

This view is from the elevated walkway, of about half of the available exhibits:

The very large black airplane is a B1 Bomber, the largest aircraft in the Museum.  For a size comparison; the B1 is larger than a 737.

This is a McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II used by the Marine Corp since 1985.

I was able to talk with one of the mechanics who actually worked on this very jet.  One of the reasons I visited on a Wednesday is because more mechanics are on site working on the displays on Wednesdays.

I wore the aviation-themed shirt Cheri had made me for my father’s memorial service, which caught the attention of several of the mechanics.  We got to talking, and when they found out my dad had been awarded the FAA Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award they were impressed.  I then got an over two-hour behind-the-scenes and inside-the-ropes tour.

The mechanics were very impressed by this strange-looking helicopter-type contraption.

It had been cobbled together from helicopter parts from wrecked helicopters, spare parts, plumbing supplies and actual Coors beer cans.  The guy who put it together actually flew it multiple times.

On the other end of the spectrum is the HL-20 Dream Chaser:

You can look up details of this futuristic idea of supplying the Space Station with a vehicle blasted into space on a rocket, then able to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, and land on a runway.

Here you are looking at the only Bell-Bartoe Jetwing ever built:

It could land and take off at about 40 mph, and then accelerate to about 350 mph.  It was built and flown in the 1970’s as part of a Naval Research program.  It had very unique ducting of the jet engine to give it the specific flight characteristics they were testing.

Some of the examples of posters and aviation art that are on display at the Museum:

The upstairs walkway was lined with posters describing aviation milestones.

Of the thousands of things to see and do in the Museum I figured I would finish with a picture of the Piper Cub.  I think all of them were painted this yellow color:

Every airport had a ton of these, and many pilots learned to fly using this airplane.  It is definitely the iconic airplane of the little small town airport.