Last month, I showed you this head-on view of a mystery plane. A modest range of identifications came in, and revealed that we have at least one insider lurking amongst you. As several of you noted, this is a WWII-era Tupolev Tu-2. It is reminiscent of more familiar aircraft of that time, most notably to me the Dornier Do 17. The Chinese also flew Tu-2s in the Korean conflict; the NATO name for it was "Bat". This particular aircraft came out of a cave in China; I was told that it's believed that it was last used in the late 1970s to bomb river ice. I found it on display at the War Eagles Air Museum, which is located on the Doña Ana County Airport outside Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Think El Paso, Texas, and you'll be close.
So cool you were in my neck of the woods--I live in Las Cruces (about 30 miles north of Dona Ana airport) and I used to manage LRU. The War Eagles Air Museum is a real treasure.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog.
-Lima Mike in New Mexico