the San Diego Air and Space Museum at the Gillespie Field outpost (next to the Atlas Missile)

how they talked the military into donating to the museum such a variety is amazing

so tiny it fits on a pallet!

recreation of the speed of sound breaking aircraft Bell X1 getting body and paint

fairgrounds rides Stinson

a Willys 1/4 ton

The Ryan X13 http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/07/its-that-rare-occasion-when-i-found-and.html

one of the guys at the museum said this was early 1910s, and mostly original

Tara Neal does wonderful aircraft drawings, and got started by decorating her sons bedroom

I learned about her work on http://megadeluxe.com/art/flights-by-number-tara-neal#more-11441

and you can buy her work, or see much more at her Etsy Store http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlightsByNumber?ref=seller_info

1967, an airfield in Vietnam, lots of helos, lots of planes

thanks Randy!

The Palm Spings Air Museum

 for an entrance, this is the coolest!

Above were the planes from one hanger, which had the aircraft from the European theater of battle

This display is astonishing

Doesn't the above look nearly like a Pixar airplane, you know, the grin below the nose, the canopy as eyes

  Hidden behind the two wings is a Catalina that's getting restored.

Above: Before .. . .. .. . ..

The aircraft's engine had died during takeoff from the U.S.S. Sable, and the plane rolled off the bow of the ship and into the water. Amazingly, the pilot, Ensign William Forbes, survived.

for National Geographic's coverage of this Wildcat from Lake Michigan; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/pictures/121211-fighter-plane-world-war-ii-lake-michigan/#/ww2-era-airplane-found-lake-michigan-cockpit_62202_600x450.jpg

Below: After being pulled out of Lake Michigan where it had been since a WW2 training flight went wrong it's been restored.