More Airplanes

Just outside El Paso, Texas sits the War Eagles Air Museum which is a private collection of mostly WW2 fighters with a couple of jets and a bunch of vintage cars thrown in. So, either skip this posting or be prepared for some aircraft info. This is a P40 Warhawk and was used even before we entered the war by the Flying Tigers in China. Although the Japanese Zeros were more advanced, the P40 still shot down over 25 planes for every one that was lost.

This is a TBM-3 Avenger and was used as a torpedo bomber. President Bush (1st) was shot down near Japan in one of these. These are also the type that in the 1940's, 5 flew east from Florida into the Bermuda Triangle and disappeared. Most movies about the Bermuda Triangle have these planes showing up somehow.
This is the P51 Mustang which was brought out near the end of the war and was probably the best fighter of the war. It was very fast, maneuverable and with its supercharged Merlin engine could out perform any German fighter. Bomber losses dropped to 10% of before once the P51 started escorting them to bomb German targets. P51's still fly today in air races.

This is probably my favourite airplane of all time, the F4U Corsair. Its probably twice the size of the P51 and was the only plane that could match its speed. The Corsair was used in the Japanese war and could fly circles around anything the Japanese had. More Corsairs were lost in landing accidents that were shot down. It was used in Korea and was the last propellor fighter plane built by the American military.
This is the Mig 15 which is the Russians first jet fighter and first saw action in the Korean war. The F4U-4 Corsair was its main adversary and although the Mig was 100 MPH faster and dominated the F4U, they still managed to shoot some of the Migs down. The allies introduced the F86 Sabre fighter jet partway into the war which equalled the Mig in performance.

Although there were lots more fascinating fighters, I need to throw in at least something for those not as excited by them as I am. There was a huge vintage car collection of everything from Model A Fords to Rolls Royce Silver Shadows. Carmen likes the black one beside her because it looks like Archie Andrews old jalopy.
We were glad the museum was in a hanger because the wind was blowing so strongly that the hanger doors sounded like they would blow in. The planes probably would have blown away if they were outside. As we drove back to Las Cruces the sand was blowing across the road and almost hid the mountains. Apparently, spring is the windy season down here. We had a great tailwind coming fromTucson; I just hope thats not going to be a headwind when we leave.