Snark Missile on Display
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is the world's largest military aviation museum. it is located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.
Elizabeth and Jim spent Father's Day 2008 at the museum.
Jim was an instructor in the Air Force teaching actuating systems which were the flight controls. brakes, nose-wheel steering, landing gear, etc. Planes he taught at Amarillo AFB, Texas during the 1950's were F-80, F-84, F-86, and F-100. All were single-engine fighters.
He transitioned from airplanes to missiles and was selected to instruct the stellar-inertial navigations system of the SM-62 Snark intercontinental Guided Missile. When Snark was phased out, he became an instructor of the GAM-72 Quail decoy missile. All of these aircraft and missiles are on display at Dayton. In fact, Jim would like to become a museum volunteer but the commute would be a bit much.
