San Diego Air and Space Museum

Posted on July 24, 2013April 4, 2015 by walt313

We were in San Diego for a family reunion at the zoo.  But on day two we took a side trip to the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park.

Showtime 100 was destroyed by a SAM. But this is what it looked like as Cunningham and Driscoll chased Colonel Toom that day over Hanoi.

The mission of Apollo 9 was the flight test of the Lunar Module (LEM) in Earth orbit.  Commander James McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart.    

Launching on March 3, 1969, the crewmen spent ten days in low Earth orbit.

Apollo 9 is on display.

 

Here’s a peek inside of Apollo 9.

 

Pacific Southwest Airline Stewardess uniform circa 1966.

Word play on the airline logo PSA, like DELTA- “Doesn’t Ever Leave the Airport”, “Pure, Sober, Available” described PSA stewardesses.  In 1966, PSA offered a Las Vegas getaway for aircrew members wherein the girls crossed off  “Pure” and “Sober” from their badges.

MORE AIRLINE NAMES

 

NOT a SR-71, that’s an A-12 outside of the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Tail number 60-6933.

 

YF2Y-1 Sea Dart, Bureau Number 135763.

 

 

 

10 thoughts on “San Diego Air and Space Museum”

  1. Cool. Glad you got to see all the airplanes after all. Is that all the Chamberlains did on day 2 in San Diego?

  2. I spent a lot of growing up years in that building (and in the one burnt down by arson). I was there for the dedication for that F-4 Phantom (pictured) and met Wally Schirra (the Astronaut). I had already met “Duke” Cunningham who flew that F-4 in Vietnam on the airshow circuit (he liked my sandwiches) when I was with the C.A.F.

  4. Nice to see these scenes again. I was in San Diego for a trip to NAS Miramar in 1992, 1994 and 1996 but I only got chance to go this museum in 1992. I remember how cool it was to that Phantom up on that stand and how big it was. Although not a complete replica of Showtime 100, it is still pretty cool. Showtime 100 had a different number on the tail and on the nose but the one depicted at the museum has been painted in the same unit markings. I hope to go back to San Diego in the next few years. It is such a great place to get caught up in US Naval history.

  5. Andy,
    You’re absolutely correct. Showtime 100 had Bureau Number 155800. The F-4J at the museum retains its original Bureau Number 157267, but is painted in the colors of VF-96 “Fighting Falcons”, CFW-9 aboard the U.S.S. Constellation (CVA64).
    Walt

  6. Not to mention, it is a F-4S, not a F-4J. The one on display has LE Slats. The F-4J did not have LE slats.

  7. Mike,
    Nice try. 157267 was a F-4J out of block F-4J-41-MC. The F-4S was an avionic upgrade to the J. Only the F-4E,F and G had LE slats. The F-4A,B and C were hard wings and everyone else had LE Flaps. 157267 on display has her LE flaps retracted. I find no record of 157267 being upgraded to the S, it might have well been and therefore would be technically a F-4S on display however when Cunningham and Driscoll flew it, it was most definitely a F-4J.

    Walt
    F4-Js Cunningham and Driscoll

  9. Air to Air victories scored in this very F-4J 157267 were as follows:
    09/01/72 NG112 Showtime VF-96 CVW-9 USS Constellation Lt Randy Cunningham and (JG) Willie Driscoll MiG-21 AIM-9
    AND
    08/05/72 NG112 Showtime VF-96 CVW-9 USS Constellation Lt Randy Cunningham Lt (JG) Willie Driscoll MiG-17 AIM-9

    So the display is authentically depicting 08/05/72.

  10. 157267 converted to S model July 1980. WFU, to AMARC December 1984. To San Diego Museum September 1987

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