American Air Museum at Duxford guided tour - Lockheed U2, SR-71, B-52, A-10, F-111, Babylon and more

[@tb5535]

That F4 Phantam bears the marking of the aircraft carrier USS America. My father served aboard her with VA-165, an A6 Intruder squadron, during their world cruise of 1970 with a considerable amount of time flying sorties over Vietnam. He was an electrician who worked on the bombing systems on the aircraft. I know that isn't pertinent to this excellent tour, but I felt compelled to share.

[@tb5535]

*Phantom! (sp) Sorry!

[@beefgoat80]

Duxford will definitely be on my list of places to visit next time I'm in the UK. Thanks for the video!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

You should!

[@zoperxplex]

So many great planes. A nation that should be justly proud of its role in aviation history.

[@charlesdavis7940]

Duxford is an amazing museum. It’s an easy train ride and Uber from London, and if you love airplanes and WW2 history, you will be in heaven. So many aircraft, great staff, and impeccable curation and presentation. It also has about the best gift shop ever, with many unique items you won’t find elsewhere.

[@_rlb]

11:30 that F-4 Phantom II looks so happy 😀

[@RCTanksTrucks247]

What an amazing museum! All of my favourite planes in one place. Thanks for the fantastic video.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

You're welcome

[@glynmatthews6697]

Seriously-Duxford is mind blowing , we spent all day there and still need to go see a LOT more

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes you'll need a day or two there

[@Starfishcentral]

The A-10 used to fly over Fosdyke in Lincolnshire where my gran and grandad lived. There was a bombing range not to far away. You knew what aircraft they was before even seeing them due to their unique engine sound.

[@PrincessZoey]

Lovely museum… especially with your presentation style and airplane knowledge!! Thanks for the tour video

[@E5kiloUSMC]

Thank your for another good tour! My son and I enjoy your work!

[@fign66]

Impressive entrance, but my vote for best entrance is the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center. Right as you walk in it's got an SR-71 with a space shuttle behind it!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes that’s true!

[@rocketpunchgo1]

Finally got to go last year... I 100% agree!

[@goodfes]

Went last year but was so hot my two kids could not stand the heat by the time we got to the American Air Museum. A fleeting walk round. Duxford for many years has been an incredible place to visit, on the way back to the car park we stumbled across the V1 doodlebug & launcher under some trees and then stuck my head into a slightly open hanger and saw a single HE162 jet sitting there alone and not on show from WW2. I hope you enjoyed your trip to the UK!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

I absolutely did enjoy my UK trip! Looking forward to visiting again next year

[@darrellh1840]

Great video! I was stationed at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge and later at RAF Lakenheath in the late 1980s and 1990s. Toured the American Museum at RAF Duxford shortly after it opened. Thanks for sharing….

[@paulkirkland3263]

The A-10 was originally based at RAF Alconbury, just up the road. It was damaged in a landing accident, and though repaired on-site by a team from the US, it didn't fly much and was eventually donated to Duxford when Alconbury closed down. The U-2 was also based at Alconbury, but in two-seater trainer configuration, and painted white. It was used for battle damage repair training, as TR-1s ( later redesignated U-2Rs) were based there. The U-2 was returned to its original single-seater configuration at Duxford and repainted the proper black colour.

[@larrysonnybuchananjunior6299]

I can't join at the moment, but I am able to make some contribution as my way of thanking you for your time and your dedication. Keep up the great work and following your passion!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Much appreciated!

[@DexterSkelter]

Amazing collection. Love it so much. Thank you Paul.

[@jamiedavison13]

I quite enjoy the cafe in the hanger. Does a really nice sausage roll.

[@shaybull4538]

'GAU-8 Avenger with some wings attached to it" made me chuckle!!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

I'm proud of that joke :)

[@SpiritintheSky.]

First-class, as always. Well done, Mr Stewart. I must visit Duxford myself.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

You should!

[@SpiritintheSky.]

@@PaulStewartAviation Thank you, sir.

[@mirthenary]

I'm amazed they were able to cram a B-52, a B-24, a B-17, a B-29 _and_ an SR-71 all in there, PLUS everything else!

[@rajnirvan3336]

Awesome place Duxford. Must visit again

[@heathertruskinger6214]

Thanks Paul. A lot of interesting planes in that section of the museum, that's for sure !

[@PaulStewartAviation]

There sure are! 😃

[@vincebarclay4065]

I have loved both Duxford videos. Thank you for your excellent work!

[@foesfly3047]

This was exceptionally well researched, scripted and narrated. The B-roll footage was very well incorporated and beneficial for each subject aircraft. Bravo!!

[@GlobalDefenceForce_694]

Highly surprised to see the U2 and SR71 some pretty rare aircraft right there.

[@dj_paultuk7052]

They have been there for some time. I visited about 12yrs ago and they were at Duxford then.

[@Shadowfax-1980]

I’m not sure about the U-2, but I believe the SR-71 is the only one on display outside the US.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Agreed! I’m not sure of many U-2s on displaye anywhere else? I’m not even sure if there is one at dayton?

[@russellmarriott9396]

The SR71 is the only one in a museum outside of the US

[@russellmarriott9396]

The P51 is painted in 78th fighter group livery. The 78th were based at Duxford from 1943.

[@stephenwarhurst6615]

Looking at the planes hanging from the roof reminds me of my childhood of hanging aircraft models from my bedroom celling with strings and a thumb tacks

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes I remember that! :)

[@bluesteel6612]

I remember driving along the M11 motorway in 1983 when the Boeing B52D arrived at Duxford- impressive sight as it flew over the motorway and then landed to be handed over to the Imperial War Museum collection.

[@peter9180]

Duxford has become a must visit, thnx.

[@nolanbroderick1234]

Best way to start my Sat morning.

[@mandyfox9376]

Love Duxford been there many times a childhood classic plus the Battle of Britain movie was also filmed there to ❤

[@danielduesentriebjunior]

Nice reportage. When I lived in Cambridge between 1991 to 1997 this American warplane museum was not in existence. However, the B17 and B24, P51, P47 and P38, as well as the F4 Corsair were there already and flying on displays.

[@jkp41978]

What an awesome collection of aircraft. I live close to the National Air and Space museum and visit frequently. There are several planes in this museum that the NASM don't have on display. I would love to visit some day.

[@nucnik]

Been there, absolutely stunning!

[@mrs6968]

Primo collection I was unaware of the b17 lower ball turret not being able to fire forward or the production record on the b24 thank you for this video

[@nolanohana]

Paul, amazing collection of aircraft.

[@Bad_Karma1968]

Paul as always fun and informative

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@user-tn1vc1xz5d]

This SR71 has been to the British Indian Ocean Territory on a test flight. The nose wheel well is also autographed by test pilot Bob Gilliland and the crews. Col. Rich Graham's books on the SR71 are outstanding.

[@chrisbeauchamp5563]

Great video, I got them all except the DC3. I’d love to go there one day

[@tompepper4789]

Excellent!

[@MarceloTrindade1]

Great video, as always! This is an impressive museum. However I missed an F-14 Tomcat...

[@londonladjeff3575]

The tyres were inflated with Nitrogen and if you look the tyres were also coated with Silver, l live near Mildenhall where this plane actually was based and glad to say l got 5 signatures of the pliots

[@markbuckley4152]

Another great informative video!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Glad you liked it!

[@BillyNoMates1974]

great timing. There is an air show on there today (and yesterday). I know this was filmed before the airshow but the timing for releasing was a great idea.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

I only realised 2 weeks ago so it was mostly blind luck 😂

[@koh_ling]

Great tour 👍👍

[@andrewb325]

The entrance is awesome.

[@matthewtemprell5422]

Another great tour. Do they still have the piece of the world trade centre in there from 9/11 with its memorial?

[@paulkirkland3263]

Yes, it is still there.

[@SaturnCanuck]

Thanks again Paul. The last time I was at Duxford, they were just breaking ground so I have yet to see this. I loved you description of the A-10. She really is a gun with an airplane wrapped around it. Like her namesake, the P-47 Thunderbolt, as Alexander Kartveli took the largest engine and turbosupercharger and wrapped an airplane around it. Of note, the tail units and main landing gear are symmetrical. The upright fins, as well as the horizontal stabilizers are symmetrical so as to lessen the amount of spares needed as only one was required, and this goes for the main landing units as well. An amazing aircraft. Will there be a part III ?

[@staralliancefan1245]

Really enjoyable as usual Paul!

[@lancerSF]

Love the video Paul, thank you for the efforts! One small correction on the B-52, this is a B-52D model equipped with the PW J-57 turbojet engines while the currently serving bombers are the H-model with the PW TF-33 turbofan engines. The TF-33s are going to get replaced by the Rolls Royce F-130s.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

thanks for the correction. I make sure i don't make such a careless mistake when I'm back at Dayton next month :)

[@jimfinlaw4537]

Very nicely done video. Thankyou for sharing. Very nice collection of American aircraft you have there at Duxford. As for the SR-71 Blackbird, did you know that 95 percent of its power does not come from its engines? Its power actually comes from the defussers that are ahead of the engines. The way it works is that the shockwave enters through the defuser, then its reflected by the engine to the center cone of the defuser where the shockwave is trapped and its the shockwave that propels the SR-71 forward to Mach 3 plus. The speed of the aircraft is controlled by how much shockwave is allowed to enter the defuser, which is controlled by the center cone that can be moved forward to reduce the shockwave to slow down speed or it can be retracted to allow more shockwave to enter into the defusser and increase speed. Its true, the SR-71 used JP-7 fuel. The main reason is because this fuel has 99.9 percent of its sulfur dioxides removed from the fuel so there is no smoke trail for the enemy to track. Just some interesting facts about the Blackbirds thats not commonly known.

[@heathertruskinger6214]

Hi Paul. Hubby and I both enjoyed that one ! It's a feat of engineering itself, just to get all those planes inside the museum, let alone suspend them from the roof! Must have had someone good at Tetris !😂

[@harveywallbanger3123]

5:04 - The B-24 was less survivable than the B-17 because the wings weren't nearly as ruggedly constructed. Luftwaffe pilots were trained to aim at the wing roots (where the wing meets the fuselage) to quickly destroy a bomber. A B-17's 1930's style box girder construction was heavier and would often only fail after they'd been gnawed through to the last box section. The B-24 used a more modern Davis wing that was hollow and narrow to save weight and give greater internal fuel capacity. It would break off the fuselage if you coughed at it too hard.

[@michaelcanning8300]

Awesome museum

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Absolutely!

[@janetbruce2430]

Very interesting video!

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@k.h.1587]

F111 was an air force design that macnamara forced on the navy as the f111B, but it was not cutting it in carrier trials and had poor maneuverability for the fleet defence role and hence got canned and led to the f14

[@NyteStalker89]

Re: The F-4. ONLY EARLY PHANTOMS WERE GUNLESS! The inclusion of a gun on aircraft was not a post vietnam choice. It was fairly early in when ground crews started slapping 1-3 20mm gun pods onto the Phantom to the point where McDonald Douglas started designing a 20mm chin pod into the later variants of the jet which it carried through the rest of its career

[@CPTNSL0]

Love your content - thank you!

[@robertstancer4469]

Paul, i apologise. No, i did not watch to the end, i presumed the glass entrance would have been at the beginning of your video not the end. Why did you add it at the end? Silly me. 45mins for you to respond, blimey!, that must be a record. I hope you are as quick as that going to the bar?

[@PaulStewartAviation]

apology accepted

[@robertstancer4469]

@@PaulStewartAviation Thankyou mate.

[@rocketpunchgo1]

Absolutely stunning enterance for sure, but as another commentor stated, you can't beat Udvar-Hazy's Blackbird and space shuttle staring you in the face at the Smithsonian!

[@elilevine2410]

Harvest another crop of thumbs up from me on for your video ! Didn’t know UK put many US aircraft to work 🤔

[@jameswoollard84]

Great museum. Did you see the glass wall outside illustrating all the USAAF losses from English bases in WW2? Very humbling.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yep it was in the video

[@damienwilloughby]

Thanks buddy that was good 👌

[@matthewmcgee]

It would have been nice to comment on the helicopters in the Duxford museums too.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Unfortunately I know almost nothing about choppers 🤷‍♂️😂

[@matthewmcgee]

A "learning opportunity" ! 😆 Enjoyed both your Duxford videos regardless. Hope to visit some day.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

@@matthewmcgee yea true haha

[@notaulgoodman9732]

If you could can you tour the foxbat or foxtrot? Love how those interceptors look, just raw speed.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes i’d love to do more videos on the soviet jets. Pity russia keeps destroying them at the moment! I think there might be a mig25 in poland but no mig31s on display outside of russia

[@jimcosklo701]

"It was powered by a V8 of course, if the Americans were going to buy it." American here. 🙋‍♂️ You make a fair point, Sir. 😂🤣

[@tomarmstrong1281]

There is no doubt that a lot of care and dedication is devoted to preserving military machinery. It is easy to forget that they represent the best brains and resources of their day as the best in killing machines. Every country has similar museums. Every country has fields full of slowly rotting tanks and aircraft representing what would have been an enormous percentage of national GDP. Perhaps one day, when our species has grown up and we learn to trust one another, with safeguards to keep the crazy people under control, none of this will be necesarry. Maybe, imagine what sort of a world we would live in.

[@glennpowell3444]

Just a foot note on the B24.Its wing was regarded to as a "Davies" wing which could despite being so slender could creat a huge quanty of lift for its surface area compared the the B17;s much broader wing.The only big issue was that as a result the B24 wing was more highley stressed meaning that if a wing was damaged by shrapel from AA fire if eneneny fighter rounds it would fail very rapidly.The B17 having a lower stressed wing if partially damaged could still remain producing lift avoid instant break up of the wing damaged.Its a big argument I have read about by aircrews that flew them during WW2 sorties from england but the B17 appears to boyond compare be the better aircfraft.The B17 climb higher aswell because the B24,s Davies wing couldnt create as much lift in thin air.

[@paulkirkland3263]

Minor correction - Davis wing, not Davies. :)

[@glennpowell3444]

@@paulkirkland3263 Thankyou.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Thanks for the extra info

[@harveywallbanger3123]

The B-17 used box girder construction on the so-called "Clark" wing. The Davis wing was a wartime invention, and thus utilized wartime priorities for the B-24: if it made it fly higher and faster and carry more bombs and fuel, it was a good thing. If it slowed down production even a little bit, even if that saved aircrew at the cost of everything else, it was a bad thing. Hence why they made more B-24s than B-17s and why the B-24 had a nasty habit of losing it's wings under cannon fire.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

As a U.S. citizen this museum would be the last aviation museum I'd visit in the U.K. as I've been to several in the United States that pretty much have the same aircraft. That said, it's gratifying to see a museum in the U.K. that's dedicated to American warplanes. Thanks for sharing!

[@glencwilson]

Went there last week. Good collection but too crowded to fully appreciate some of the special aircraft that are displayed. The B-52 is almost lost in there. Good video.

[@cliftoncaskey5696]

I’m sure it’s better organized and laid out than it was in the 80s.

[@LINJ638]

Hey Paul, is this the first two part video on IWM Duxford? Are you ever going to do a two part video on RAF Cosford Museum in the near future?

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yep the other video is on my channel. No cosford video yet. Maybe in the future

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yep the other video is on my channel. No cosford video yet. Maybe in the future

[@LINJ638]

@@PaulStewartAviation Do you have a third part to IWM or is that it for the aviation section?

[@PaulStewartAviation]

@@LINJ638 that’s it for duxford. Until next year when i hope to film more

[@LINJ638]

@@PaulStewartAviation Understood.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW, I do not I think I knew the Boeing B-29 had no nosewheel steering.

[@danasdanas7251]

I went to Duxford too!!@@

[@NoManClatuer-pd8ck]

When are you going to do a bio/intro?

[@maxmoore9955]

Kin Hell the Pilot must have been like Sparrow on Speed .looking at all the dials 😮

[@maxmoore9955]

NICE MATE .never Forget the Humans .LEST WE FORGET.

[@Jamtoastbutterlovely]

I was somewhat disappointed with this this part of the museum. It was very dark on the day I went. I would also of liked to have seen the P51, F15 and A-10 on the ground.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Yes I guess they were short on space but I'd love to see all of those aircraft on the ground. In fact I've never seen a U-2 on the ground as it's also stuck to the roof in Dayton too.

[@johnp139]

Doesn’t the museum have heat?

[@keithammleter3824]

Paul, you said that ramjets are efficient. Ramjets cannot be bypass engines like modern airliner turbojet engines, and their effective compression ratio is necessarily limited. Just as in any hydrocarbon fueled engine, including car engines, high efficiency comes with having a high compression ratio and a low mean exhaust temperature (so the combustion heat gets converted to power, and not wasted heating up the atmosphere - this is what bypassing does). But ramjets are extremely simple, with no major moving parts, and effective at providing thrust at high mach numbers.

[@EthanHalbert713]

First off lean forward is two words not Le’ Ford. And the b-29 was not the most expensive project in WWII. It was minuscule compared to the Manhattan project.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

I am happy to be corrected but it's documented in many places that the B-29 program was more expensive than the Manhattan project.

[@chrissakal532]

You actually got it right- the B-29 project cost more than the Manhattan Project. With the B-29, there were cost overruns and serious delays that eventually resulted in investigations. The B-29 was the result of trying to put so many new innovations into one airplane in a short time and get it into combat. If the Manhattan Project was actually more expensive, that goes against everything I've ever heard and read about the development of the B-29.

[@bryanlorang417]

😁❤️😉😎🐱☺️

[@johnsavage6628]

God, any museum that highlights war planes and aircraft just promotes war, and more wars. And shows how much money has been wasted on wars, and evil. Evil loves wars.

[@DG-jq7il]

Its sad and a little funny that my wife and I had a conversation about the morbidity of visiting a basic grave site that is the Titanic. Told her about the salvaged WW2 wrecks in the South China Sea by literal grave robbers for pre nuclear world steel, and that by having vessals like Titan regularly visiting Titanic, would protect from salvaging, either for souvenirs or for the actual steel. Either way a total tragedy

[@arsenaldailygaming8316]

why do you look like noel phillips lol and talk like him

[@keithammleter3824]

Paul, you sometimes spoil your excellent videos by repeating urban myths. At 19:21 you state that the USA didn't have much titanium, so the CIA secretly imported it via 3rd countries from the Soviet Union. You are right in saying we have all heard that myth - it's one of those stories that have a nice ring to it. When you look at the facts, it just isn't believable. Russia has been a relatively small producer. The SR-71 was not the first US aircraft to use titanium. While aircraft such as the Sabrejet used only small amounts compared to the SR-71, nearly 10,000 were made, so the quantity used is much higher than used in the 32 SR-71's made. Titanium has been used in American jet engines since they started making them. Titanium dioxide has been an important paint pigment world-wide, millions of tonnes per year, for well before the SR-71. I don't have figures for 1964 when the SR-71 started, but current world production is 9 million tonnes per year - it would not have been greatly different back then. Australia has long been a significant producer of titanium and is now the second largest. If the USA wanted some on the quiet for the SR-71, they could have got it from us, as we are a close ally - and perhaps did. But given the vast quantity used in paint, I don't think they needed to do anything special just to get a few tonnes of metal to make 32 SR-71's. It is quite easy to remove the oxygen from titanium dioxide.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

I'm going to guess from your lack of citations and abundance of "think" and "could" that you don't really know; I'd be glad to be wrong if you do have actual citations. Calling something an urban myth without any alternative explanation does not make it so. One thing I have learned over many moments of hubris is that life is full of surprises. It may be, for instance, that just as Welsh coal is among the best in the world, that Russian titanium ore is easier to refine or yields purer product. Perhaps it is cheaper to refine. I can think of many reasons why the "urban myth" might be true, and no reasons why anyone would invent it, especially the Americans.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Interesting. I’m happy to stand corrected if I’m wrong

[@christophercook723]

America is a Continent not a Country . Canada is also America. The Geographical ignorace should stop.

[@paulkirkland3263]

America ( i.e. the USA ) and Canada are both countries on the continent of North America.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

😂😂

[@rays7437]

So people from the USA shouldn't call themselves, "Americans," but rather "United Statesians?"

[@christophercook723]

@@rays7437 Before the madness set in , when l grew up people when asked where they from said 'the US'. Like l say l am from the UK not Europe.

[@christophercook723]

@@paulkirkland3263 America is the Continent in two distinct parts, North and South.

[@robertcoleman4861]

Great thanks Paul.👍👍👍👍🍺