Texas Air & Space Museum

One of the stops we had set up for this trip was a visit to the Texas Air & Space Museum.  The museum is located in a small commercial hangar at the airport and is seeking donations and funding to allow the relocation to another part of the airport with dedicated facilities.  This museum is similar to a lot of those you find across the US and Canada in the promotion of specific aspects of aviation to the local community.  They are great ways to feature local people who made a name for themselves in aviation, or for certain aspects of aviation that are key to the area.

In this case, the museum features a number of exhibits that speak about the people from the area who have been successful.  Perhaps the most famous is Colonel Rick Husband.  Colonel Husband was the commander of the space shuttle Columbia that broke apart on re-entry in 2003.  The Amarillo Airport was renamed in his honour.  Perhaps in part because of this, the museum has the GulfStream jet aircraft that had been modified to train astronauts how to glide the future shuttle back to earth.  The modifications primarily centered on the cockpit with the left hand side changed to resemble the instrumentation that would be used on the shuttle, and the right side configured as a standard production aircraft.

GulfStream Shuttle Approach Training Aircraft

Additional aircraft on site and able to be viewed first hand include a King Air 90 that was used by Honeywell Aerospace to develop and test the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) which has become commonplace in all commercial aircraft and a lot of smaller private aircraft.  The primary purpose of TCAS is to provide the pilot with immediate information that will help resolve a possible conflict with another aircraft.

King Air C90 from Honeywell

A deHavilland Cariboo is also on site.  This unique aircraft is an excellent example of the significance that deHavilland Aircraft of Canada has played in the development of  aircraft that are world renowned for their ability to take off from, and land on very short airfields.  This aircraft for example is capable of taking off and clearing a 50’ obstacle in just over 1,000 feet, and can land in that same configuration in 600 feet.  All of this with a full payload of passengers and or cargo.  This particular aircraft saw service with the military in Vietnam and has patches covering bullet holes in the tail area.

Tail of Cariboo with bullet holes

The largest employer at the airport, and certainly one of the largest in the area is Bell Helicopters and the final assembly facilities associated with the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt rotor helicopter.  We were fortunate to be airside at the museum when one of the recently assembled aircraft was being put through its testing paces.  A number of other ones were in the air conducting various tests of systems.

The V-22 Osprey is a very unique aircraft and only operated by military organizations in the US and Japan.  As it is an aircraft that can go from vertical take off and landing operations to normal flight it has an important role to play in supporting the military.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post the importance of these types of facilities for educating people, and particularly young people, about aviation.  When we pulled up to the entrance we were happy to see a class of about twenty children who were waiting at the end of their tour.  Our tour guide indicated the local school district is active in bringing children to the museum, and with aviation such an important part of the community it is nice to see.

Please take a moment to read the Wikipedia link above, it has some interesting stories.

Thank you for stopping by to read.