Palm Springs Air Museum
Located next to the airport, the Palm Springs Air Museum is easy to find. Like most things in the area, parking is abundant, but don't expect much shade.
TP-40N
Looking resplendent with its toothy painted grin, this P-40 is actually a two-seater training variant.
A not B
A Douglas A-26 Invader, also known as a B-26, not to be confused with the slightly older and slightly larger Martin B-26.
Big and fast
The speedy A-26 was in service well into the 1960s. And it was with the Air National Guard until the early 70s.
Armament
Depending on the mission, the A-26 might have up to 20 50-cal machine guns. Internally it could hold up to 4,000 pounds (1814kg) of bombs with some more on the wings, if required.
MiG-21
Over 60 countries flew the MiG-21, and some still do, over 60 years after its first flight. This was an early "A" variant.
Seaplane near no sea
An odd sight in the middle of the desert, but it's always good to see a PBY Catalina.
Anti-sub
Not many submarines out here either, but this is a fine-looking C-1 Trader. Behind is a Lockheed Ventura.
Desert Tomcat
I heard there's going to be a "Top Gun" sequel. With all the F-14s retired, what will they use to replace its real star?
New hangar
You're able to get up close and peer into several mid-century jet aircraft, like this F-100 Super Sabre.
Supersonic
The F-100 was the Air Force's first plane able to go supersonic in level flight.
Dutch
This F-104 was built in Amsterdam, and served its operational life with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
Phantom II
The F-4 had a loooong service life. With the US, it served for 56 years. It's still in service in some air forces around the world.
Prowler
EA-6B Prowler is based on the A-6 Intruder, but features a longer airframe to allow for the four-man cockpit (note the aft canopy "skylight"). Both canopies have a layer of gold to protect the crew from the electronic warfare's EM emissions.
Delta wing
It was hard to get a good angle of this F-102 Delta Dagger's delta wing, but this shot's pretty cool.
Dive bomber
A beautiful blue SBD Dauntless. You can see holes of the slightly extended dive brakes under the wings.
Hellcat
This is actually an F6F-5N night fighter variant. It was in service until 1959 in California.
"Medium bomber"
Like so many other WWII aircraft, pictures don't give a good indication of size. This is classified as a medium bomber, but size-wise it's not much bigger than a city bus. Well, a city bus with huge wings anyway.
Tigercat
It didn't see combat in WWII, but the F7F did see action in Korea. This one served with the Marines as a night fighter and night fighter trainer until 1956.
Bearcat
The third of the museum's cat trifecta, the F8F Bearcat. This examples was one of two built for civilian use, specifically the head of product support at Grumman.
P-51
Ready to fly... almost. Next year this P-51 should be ready for public rides.
This photo is from my Instagram.
C-47
Parked back inside, it seems bigger, somehow.
Rather roomy
You can see one of the reasons why the DC-3 and C-47 were so popular: There's lots of usable space here.
Ground attack
The P-47 was heavy, but packed quite a punch: Eight 50-cal machine guns plus bombs or rockets.
Below the bomb bay
A look up and inside the B-17s bomb bay. The B-17G could carry up to 8,000 pounds (3,629kg) of bombs.
Nose
After squeezing through the hatch, you've got a great look at the bombardier station.
Top turret
I can only imagine the view of the sky from here.
Bomb bay
It's a narrow walk, more of a shuffle really, to the rest of the aircraft.
Electronics office
There's a surprising amount of space here, though I imagine it'd seem a lot more cramped with the crew on board in all their gear.
View over the top
With the "skylight" removed, and you're tall enough, you can pop up and take a gander down the wings.
Radio radio
The view back towards the cockpit.
Waist gunner
Only some models had plexiglass windows here. Imagine the cold.
Ball turret
In this view forward you can see the top of the bull turret.
Tail gunner
Vitally important, but what a place to be.
After one last look at the lovely aircraft, I headed home.
For the full story behind this tour, check out Climb into the cockpit of an F-104 Starfighter with me.