Eglin Air Force Base Museum - My Birthday Visit

B-25 Mitchell Bomber

At Eglin Air Base - Jimmy Doolittle
practiced with his B-25s
for the April 1942 attack on Tokyo.

Eglin Air Force Base Museum - Florida

On my birthday trip to the Emerald Coast - Lulu was enjoying visiting the outlets at Destin. I drove 15 miles to one of my favorite museums. The main building of the museum was closed this time due to covid - but there are about 30 static aircraft displays outside in the sandy soil - among the Florida pines. They are well maintained and labeled. They are spread out to allow for plenty of photographs from all sides. 

I spent an hour or two - enjoying the sunny and 60s weather - with my camera and imagination. My Dad loved airplanes and passed that love onto me. We had models of many of these airplanes - some of them flyable. In the 1950s and 1960s - we would go to airshows - worshipping these planes. 

My Dad built one specific model I will never forget. It was a B-25 with a six foot wingspan and two gasoline engines. His hero was General Jimmy Doolittle - who led a group of B-25 bombers to attack Japan right after Pearl Harbor. 

SR-71 Blackbird. This spy plane could fly higher - faster -
and could climb faster than any airplane. It could cross the USA
in 2 hours. 

B-52 - this was used to drop
thousands of tons of bombs on Vietnam.

B-17 - this bomber was used to bring Hitler 
and the Nazis to their knees in World War II.

This is the A-10 Warthog - it supported the ground troops in 
Vietnam - Iraq - Afghanistan - Kuwait. 

The Purple Heart is awarded by Congress to anyone
that is wounded in defending their country in battle.

Mother Of All Bombs - this is the most destructive of all
bombs - not nuclear. It is dropped from a plane - 
guided by satellite. 20 tons.

This is a captured Russian Mig-13.

This is a Sidewinder Missile. It was the first heat seeking missile. 
It would follow the exhaust of an enemy plane -
and fly into the engine. 

F-86 - it was used in the Korean War. It won many
of the first air to air fights with Migs.

Big Ugly Disk - before there were little satellite TV dishes - 
I had one in the backyard Tamaqua. We had free TV
from all over the world. 

UH-1 Huey Helicopter - 9000 were made for Vietnam. 
They would ferry troops in and out of battle.
Many are still in use today.

F-15 - a supersonic fighter. It is 50 years old. 

This B-25 could go 270 mph in 1942.
We used them to attack Tokyo -
taking off from an aircraft carrier.