[R-390] MORE RE; SIGNIFICANT COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

[Barry]

>Definitely a place to visit if you like military aircraft, old or  new.  I 
>think they have one of just about anything that ever was in the Air  Force 
>inventory.  I visited two years ago because I heard they had a B-2 on  display and 
>I wanted to see how they did that.  In my old life I had to  have a lot of 
>clearances to get close to one, so I imagined this big aircraft  set behind a 
>huge glass curtain, with certain parts masked off.  Nope- the  aircraft was 
>sitting out on the cluttered floor of the museum, and you just  about had to lean 
>over the velvet rope to touch the plane.  But I found  there was a catch- they 
>displayed the structural test airframe so some key items  like the stealth 
>treatments and the radar antennas were missing.  I was  also surprised to see 
>some of the experimental stealth aircraft my company  worked on just 5 years ago. 
> So I highly recommend the museum.  Alas,  I didn't see one R-390 in the 
>place.
>Ed 

That B-52 is amazing.  I remember visiting there in the early 1990's.  I remember the odd feeling of standing there underneath that thing and not really realizing it was there because of its size.  There are other smaller aircraft all around/under it and you see them and then suddenly realize you're underneath a much, much larger aircraft.  I still can't figure out how they got that thing in there.

Yes, definitely a must-see if you like that kind of thing.

Barry - N4BUQ