The Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum is a private aerospace museum located at the Falcon Field (FFZ) city airport in Mesa, Arizona. Visited 27 January 2024 and 24 Nov 2024.
Exterior Displays
3"⁄50 RF Mark 33
The 3"⁄50 RF Mark 33 automatic naval gun was developed in 1944-1945 as a close range anti-kamikaze weapon. Specifically, the U.S. Navy urgently needed a rapid-fire cannon which was large enough in caliber to fire proximity-fuzed (VT) explosive shells and at the same time small and light enough to be fitted to ships as a direct replacement for 40mm Bofors autocannon mounts. The Mark 33 was based on the 3"⁄50 Mark 22 naval gun which was already in widespread use on destroyer escorts and auxiliary ships, modified for fully automatic fire with an electrically driven autoloader system.
The 3" RF guns were intended to be "one for two" replacements for Bofors 40mm mountings, with twin Bofors mounts being exchanged for Mark 34 single mounts and quad Bofors mounts being exchanges for Mark 33 twin mounts. However, in most cases were installed as one-for-three replacements for 40mm Bofors guns due to their greater weight (ie. two twin 3" for three quad 40mm). The first prototype gun was ready by late 1945, but the end of the war meant that these guns were not delivered in quantity until 1948.
Exhibit Hangar
World War I
World War II
Link Trainer
This AN-T-18 Basic Instrument Trainer is a complete example including the connected instructor's desk station.
General Motors TBM-3E Avenger
This TBM-3E, serial number 53914,is one of 646 examples built by General Motors.
Douglas A-26C Invader
This A-26C-40-DT, serial number 44-35601 and civil registration N202R, served with the Army Air Corps during WWII.
Korean War
Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw
This H-19D-2-SI, serial number 54-1416 and civil registration N6735, served with U.S. Army Aviation from 1954 until around 1969ß. It flew as a crop duster after military retirement until being damaged in an engine-out crash landing in 1991.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis "Fagot"
The Hanyu cockpit markings in this aircraft identify it as one of approximately five hundred MiG-15s which were operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force from around 1950 to 1986. Although officially designated as Shenyang J-2s, these were all export aircraft from the Soviet Union. License produced Chinese MiG-15s would have been Shenyang J-3s, but were cancelled in favor of the newer MiG-17 (Shenyang J-4 ⁄ J-5).
Vietnam War
Bell UH-1B Iroquois "Huey"
This UH-1B, serial number 64-13986, served in the Third Platoon ("Alley Cats"), 282nd Assault Helicopter Company during the Vietnam War. She was recently (2018-2020) restored by the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation and is displayed as a "Heavy Hog" gunship with an M75 40mm automatic grenade launcher mounted in a M5 Helicopter Armament Subsystem, two M60 medium machine guns on Sagami swingaway door mounts, and two M159 19-tube rocket launchers on M156 Universal Mounts.
The M156 mounts were de facto standard on Huey gunships and formed the basis for the widely used M6, M16, and M21 Helicopter Armament Subsystems. Due to weight limitations, these expanded systems could not be fitted in combination with the M159 rocket launchers; the early M6 system was initially used alone but was later combined with a pair of MA-2⁄A 2-tube rocket launchers on each side, while the later M16 and M21 systems were typically fitted with a single M158 7-tube rocket launcher on each side.
Bell AH-1F Cobra
This AH-1F, serial number 80-23518, is an example of the original single-engine Cobra helicopter gunship used by the U.S. Army, as opposed to the later twin-engine "SeaCobra ⁄ SuperCobra" which was developed for the U.S. Marine Corps. It is displayed in a typical anti-tank configuration with a M197 20mm Gatling autocannon, two M56 four-tube launchers for BGM-71 TOW wire guided missiles, and two M261 19-tube 70mm rocket launchers.
The AH-1F was originally designated "Modernized AH-1S" and is Step 3 of the AH-1S upgrade program, with Step 2 being the AH-1E ⁄ "Upgunned AH-1S" and Step 1 being the AH-1P ⁄ "Production AH-1S" and the AH-1S ⁄ "Modified AH-1S". A total of 387 older Cobras were upgraded to AH-1F configuration, and a further 143 new Cobras were built as Fs.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis "Fishbed"
McDonnell Douglas F-4N Phantom II
This F-4B-26-MC, serial number 153016, is one of 228 original F4H-1 ⁄ F-4B aircraft upgraded to F-4N configuration under "Project Bee Line". Somewhat unusually, she served in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, with operational deployments on board USS Forrestal, USS Coral Sea, and USS Ranger, including Operational Eagle Claw in 1980. She was one of the last Phantoms remaining in active service with the U.S. Navy, making her final deployment in 1983 with the VF-21 "Freelancers" on board USS Ranger.
The F-4N upgrades included new J79-GE-17 smokeless engines and a subset of the airframe and avionics improvements which had been developed for the new F-4J, including leading-edge slats, an "all digital" AWG-10B radar, and the AN&AVG-8 Visual Target Acqusition Set.
Maintenance Hangar
Boeing Stearman N2S-3
This N2S-3, serial number 75-7540 and civil registration N47964, is an example of the most common U.S. Navy version of the Stearman (Model 75N1), with 1875 delivered. Powered by a Continental R-670 engine, it is equivalent to the Army's even more ubiquitous PT-17.
North American AT-6D Texan
This AT-6D Texan, serial number 42-86092 and civil registration N3246G, is one of 15,495 aircraft built for the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Navy as primary trainers. The AT-6D (or Navy SNJ-5) was an armed trainer variant used from 1943 onwards, with one forward-firing .30-caliber machine gun on the right side of the engine cowling, one forward-firing .30-caliber machine gun in the right wing, and one flex-mounted .30-caliber machine gun in the rear. This configuration was intended for gunnery training.
Boeing B-17G Fighting Fortress "Sentimental Journey"
This B-17G, serial number 44-83514 and civil registration N9323Z, is one of just four airworthy B-17s remaining in the world. She is currently undergoing routine maintenance, hence her visibly disassembled state.
Flight Line
B-25J Mitchell "Maid in the Shade"
This B-25J-10-NC, serial number 43-35972 and civil registration N125AZ, flew fifteen combat missions over Italy and Yugoslavia as part of the 437h Squadron, 319th Bombardment Group.