Pima Air Museum B-52 (# 0659)

On this trip I visited the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscon, one of the largest private aviation and space museums. My reason for visiting was my long-standing interest in transportation and the interaction between transportation and other cultural/economic factors, but I have been hesitant to visit since I knew much of the museum consisted of military aircraft and I suspected that the focus on military aircraft (and the location in Arizona) would mean a strong use of patriotism in the display. Having witnessed when I was in the military and since how often patriotism is used as justification for a bullying based on narrow nationalism, I very often feel somewhat in danger when around active displays of patriotism.

Fortunately when I was there it was mid-week and 107F, so there were very few other tourists on the grounds. Clearly very many of the docents (almost all male) for particular aircraft displays were retired military and some wanted to talk about the heroics of the American military, so I attempted to stay clear of interaction with the docents. On a much more positive note, it is a huge display with very good and well-written documentation. Thus there was ample opportunity to gain information both on the economics of aviation and war, and on the dehumanization of civilian (and military) populations that is frequent in military displays.

I took quite a few pictures and I don’t want to push the narrative of this trip to being just about the military, so I’m going to hold off till much later on posting museum photos other this introductory one.

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Pictured here is a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, one of 3 at the museum. The B-52 was developed in the 1950’s at the height of the Cold War for carrying nuclear weapons in the event of an attack on the Soviet Union, it was later used in the Vietnam War and is still being used in actions against ISIS in the Middle East. Since 1953 there have been 744 B-52’s built, 58 are still in active service with 18 in reserve.

The plane is seldom referred to by it’s full name, more commonly referenced as the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F***er). I’ve seen the plane landing at various bases and to me, based on just those sightings, the best description is ‘ominous’.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress