On the road again...

[moose135]

Greetings from Pittsburgh! I'm on the road, heading to the Air Force Museum, among other places. Left Long Island this morning, and got into Pittsburgh this afternoon.

As everyone knows, Pittsburgh is at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers :) Across the river from downtown is Mount Washington. Going up the side of the mountain is the Duquesne Incline, a funicular railway. At the top of the railway, they have a viewing area overlooking Pittsburgh.

Here's a look up the funicular, as a car comes down the other track:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219142889-L.jpg

The Allegheny river is to the left, the Monongahela to the right.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219143118-L.jpg

The Ohio River, with a tug boat pushing a group of barges.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219143336-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219143546-L.jpg

Heinz Field is on the left side along the river, home of the Steelers.
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http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219144152-L.jpg

I'll add photos as the trip goes along. And no, I'm not using the glasses in the hotel :shock:

[jran225]

Some quality shots there Moose, thanks for sharing!


And no, I'm not using the glasses in the hotel

Hahaha! :D

Greets,
-Omar S.

[nikon50bigma]

Great job on the pics.
The water must be calm there since the reflections in the water are clear in the last one.

[PhilDernerJr]

Some interesting stuff! i can't say I've ever seen pics from Pittsburgh before. Nice representation.

[stuart schechter]

Nice photos. Those long exposures look great.

[AirtrafficController]

Those city night pictures are beautiful moose!

[T-Bird76]

Great shots Moose! Pittsburgh is an under estimated city as far as culture, things to do and restaurants.

[mirrodie]

Great shots so far John! Looking forward to more :D

[hiss srq]

Great shots, I have been to PIT quite a bit and it is a shame that it has taken such a downfall in recent times. I was there last mid summer.

[LGA777]

Moose, great job with the night shots. When PIT was a more important part of US's system I made quite a few trips their, including several upon Mt Washington where your shots where taken from. Had several nice meals at a few different Restraunts up their, by far my favorite part of Pittsburgh ! Have fun Moose !

Cheers

LGA777

[moose135]

This morning I left Pittsburgh, heading toward Dayton and the AF Museum. First big landmark along the way was Wheeling, WV. Never been through there before (that I remember, might have passed through driving between NY & Indiana in my AF days). The city is sort of between a mountain and the Ohio River - entering via I-70, you pass through a tunnel under the mountain and into the city.

Here is a waterfront park on the Ohio River, with two of the bridges crossing the Ohio.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219488514-L.jpg

Here's a look from up on the mountain overlooking the city - I followed a crazy twisting road (in a residential neighborhood) to the top. That's the same bridge as seen above.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219488944-L.jpg

On I-70 in Ohio. Sorry, Phil, but I saw no evidence of an airport there. :(
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219489092-L.jpg

One really neat thing I saw on the way were a pair of 2008 Dodge Challenger developmental test cars ("test mules"). (I'm as big a Mopar guy as I am an airplane guy.) The new Challenger will be out next year, and these were on a road trip from Detroit for testing. Even though they were disguised to avoid detection, I knew what they were. Saw them in at a rest stop on I-70 in Ohio, and got to talk to one of the guys with the team (They had a 300C and Charger along as escort vehicles, about 8 people, and a ton of electronic gear aboard.)
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Finally, the Air Force Museum! I haven't been there in at least 20 years, and I was amazed at the changes. They have greatly expanded the building (it's probably 4x the size as it originally was).

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He arrived about the same time I did, although I don't know what he was doing there.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219499359-L.jpg

Outside, they have a memorial garden, with monuments to many people and units. This is a "missing man" formation of F-22s. In the background is a memorial to USAF Medal of Honor recipients.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219499650-L.jpg

As a proud SAC Warrior, I was thrilled to see the newest addition to the memorial garden.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219505446-L.jpg

French Spad XIII used by US Army Air Corp flyers in WW I.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219499924-L.jpg

German Me-262, first jet-powered fighter.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219500242-L.jpg

Last C-141 operated by the AF, this aircraft flew the first American POWs out of North Viet Nam, earning it the nickname "The Hanoi Taxi".
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219500417-L.jpg
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219503946-L.jpg

NKC-135A, used to test airborne laser system - it actually shot down several missiles with the laser during tests.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219504440-L.jpg

This big-nosed EC-135E "ARIA" aircraft was one of 8 used to track Apollo launches (there's a large dish antenna in the nose) and later was used to track missile launches, both American and Soviet.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219504753-L.jpg
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219504884-L.jpg

German Ju-52 tri-motor transport.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219504106-L.jpg

I got to the museum around 1pm, and saw they were offering a guided tour starting at 1:30. Since I hadn't been there in ages, I thought that would be a good place to start, figuring it would be a quick look at some of the highlights. We ended up with about 8 guys (I was about the youngest, and almost all of us were veterans of one type or another). The tour guide was a 24 year AF vet, and after retiring from a civilian job, has spent 10 years volunteering at the museum. Three hours later :!: we had a thorough tour of the Wright Brothers through the end of WW II, plus a quick look at the more modern exhibits. The guide was outstanding! He really knew his stuff - even I learned some new stuff, although I did have a couple of interesting things to tell him as well.

I'm back out there in the morning - as it's Veterans' Day weekend, there are several events scheduled. I didn't take too many shots inside today - it's not brightly lit to protect the displays, and we were doing a lot of walking on the tour. After the weekend (I'll be out this way for a few days) I plan to return for a major photo shoot - they welcome photographers bringing tripods in, so I expect to give mine a workout.

[Bellucciman]

John,

GREAT STUFF!

[MarkLawrence]

Great shots Moose!!!

[Greg_NY]

Great shots John, and what a scoop on that Challenger!!

[moose135]

Just a couple of quick shots - I spent much of the day at the AF Museum, taking in the "experience", checking out some of the displays I wanted a closer look at.

Here's the NKC-135A again, showing the big hump on the top of the fuselage housing the laser equipment.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219756732-L.jpg

Outside one of the entrances to the base, these two billboards are posted about 30 feet apart:
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One of the few shots from inside today. They retired the "Largest Gonads in the World" award after giving it to this guy. This display recreates the work of Capt. Joseph Kittinger, USAF. As head of Project Excelsior in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he made several high altitude parachute jumps from this balloon gondola to develop escape systems for high performance aircraft. His final jump, August 16, 1960, was from 102,800 feet (almost 20 miles above the Earth!) He had a 4 1/2 minute free fall until the parachute opened at 17,500 feet, and during this he reached a speed of 714 mph - faster than the speed of sound!

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On a hilltop near the base is a park with this monument to the Wright Brothers.
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From the hill behind the monument, you can see the main part of Wright-Patterson AFB (The museum is on a smaller section of the base in the opposite direction)
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219757195-L.jpg
4 C-5s can bee seen on the ramp.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/219757331-L.jpg
This would be a great place to spot from, the sun is at your back all day, and final approach is right in front of you, however I don't know how much traffic they get at WP - it's mainly an engineering and test base, and I don't know how much the C-5s get used.

[nikon50bigma]

Wow! Excellent shots Moose!

[lijk604]

Moose, AWESOME stuff...defintely a candidate for Thread of the Year.

[moose135]

Had spotty internet access the last couple of days, but I'm back online. After a couple of days at the AF Museum, I headed up to Kokomo, Indiana, for a visit to the museum at Grissom AFB (where I flew KC-135) and see a couple of friends in the area. For those unfamiliar with the area, Kokomo is about an hour north of Indianapolis, and the base is about 15 miles north of Kokomo. The town has really grown in the past 20 years, but some things are still the same. We had a ton of rain Sunday and Monday, but it stopped long enough for me to visit the museum. I posted a thread with photos from there here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9139 (http://www.nycaviation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9139)

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/221154411-L.jpg

There's a lot of farm land around these parts.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/221154136-L.jpg

In 1994, the base was closed, and converted into an Air Reserve Base. The active duty -135 wing was moved (it was the 305th Air Refueling Wing - it's now the 305th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire AFB). It's now home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing of the AF Reserve (they were assigned to GAFB when I was there). The airfield facilities are still in use, as well as some of the administrative areas, but much of the base is no longer in use - part of it is now a business park, the base housing was sold to a developer and it's now something or other "estates" - I did see my old house! But it's sad to see many of the buildings closed up, not in use.

Here is the old alert facility. Back in the day, we had 10 to 12 crews on 24 hour alert, living in the facility, with the aircraft parked on the "Christmas trees" outside. It's empty now, but the local SCCA chapter uses the ramp area for sports car meets during the summer.
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Here's the main entrance to the facility - the guard booth was manned by AF Security Police, and we had to check in here to enter the facility.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/221154686-L.jpg

Here's the ramp, with the Reserve KC-135R's. I never got to see any of these fly while I was visiting.
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/221154921-L.jpg

Sunday night, and again Monday night, I got together with my old aircraft commander - we flew together for better than a year, and he and his wife remained in the area after separating from the AF. He flew with the Reserve wing for several years (including 2 tours in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War.) He was hired by American Airlines, where he flew Fokker F100s for about 9 years. He's been a 777 first officer for about 7 years now (with a ways to go until he has the seniority to move to the left seat) He flies out of ORD, and typically flies to London, Narita, and Shanghai. We've kept in touch over the years, but this is the first we've seen of each other since 1988. We spent hours talking about the airline industry and remenicing about our AF days - he even found the video he shot on our TDY to England in 1987!

[mirrodie]

Great photos moose, keep em coming!


I just learned about Joseph Kittinger, USAF last week. His story was featured on a Discovery Channel type show. Pretty remarkable to hear the interview. And he mentioned that during the jump, something went wrong with the glove seal. Ended up with hypothermia on one hand due to the jump.