Pima Air and Space Museum (Tucson, Arizona)

I find myself conflicted about visiting places like the Pima Air and Space Museum because I assume the emphasis of the exhibits will be all about war. I don’t understand war, don’t support war, and don’t like being subjected to war propaganda. I also understand that most people don’t relish the thought of war, and that despite our deepest desire to not see any countries in conflict, the possibility will always exist that at the very least we may have to defend lives on our own turf. (I try to keep this thought first and foremost when walking through museums of this type.) And while the Pima Air and Space Museum did have its share of war related and military machinery, it also had many other displays that I found quite fascinating.

There was the airplane once recognized as the world’s smallest aircraft, known as The Bumblebee; mechanical displays of intricate engine design; home-built airplanes made from “kits”; space travel; aircraft depicted in the movies; a huge exhibit devoted to Women in Flight; and brightly painted planes of all imaginable shapes and sizes.

There were many examples of “nose art”, paintings on the fuselage of airplanes during World War II, a form of aircraft graffiti. At first I was slightly uncomfortable with what seemed to me the trivialization of something that should be somber and entered into regretfully. But after reading some of the history of this custom I had a greater understanding of how this practice provided an outlet for military personnel to express individuality, evoke memories of home and peacetime life, and as a kind of psychological protection against the stresses of war and the probability of death.

Another kind of graffiti was also on display in the Round Trip: Art From The Boneyard Project, which resurrects disused airplanes from America’s military history and puts them into the hands of contemporary graffiti and street artists from around the world. Here, entire airplanes were painted with colorful and imaginative scenes by thirty different artists.

We concluded our visit with the hour long bus tour of The Boneyard, where an on-board docent narrated our drive through more than 4000 aircraft from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, and NASA. These craft, resting on over 80-acres, are in varying degrees of storage, regeneration, or preparing to be recycled.