Hello! This weekend Adventure Dog and I went to MacDill Air Force Base, which is where the United States Central Command is located. The United States Central Command is the headquarters that is in charge of planning, coordinating, and executing military operations in the mideast, the Horn of Africa, and parts of central Asia. Historically, MacDill Air Force Base has been important in World War II and the Cold War. Many of the highest ranking officers of the Marines, Navy, Army, and Air Force are stationed there. Adventure Dog was excited to see MacDill Memorial Park, where we saw airplanes on display!
The first airplane we saw was the Boeing B-50 Superfortress, which is a propeller and jet-powered plane that was used by the Air Force after World War II. The B-50 Superfortress could reach speeds of 400 miles per hour! It was also the first plane ever to fly around the world non-stop, which was accomplished by refueling the plane in mid-air! The Lucky Lady II was the name of the B-50 that circumnavigated (circled) the earth in 1949.
The next plane we saw was an F-4 Phantom II, which is supersonic. This means it can fly faster than the speed of sound! It can fly 1,472 mph at an altitude of 40,000 feet. It was produced for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy in the 1960s through the 1980s. This plane was often used for reconnaissance (which means gathering information through direct observation; in America, this is also known as “recon”) during the Vietnam War. Other countries, like Australia, Britain, Japan, and Germany, also used these planes. I found a really good picture of a squadron of F-4 planes flying over Florida on the Air Forces’ 50th Anniversary commemorative flight in 1997.
The last plane we saw was an F-16 Fighting Falcon. It is a jet fighter aircraft that has been used in many different ways, and its versatility has made it useful to the air forces of 25 other nations, including countries like Norway, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Denmark, Chile, Morocco, and the Netherlands. This jet was first used in the 1980s, and it will continue to be used by the US Air Force until 2025. It reaches a maximum speed of 1,500 mph, which is even faster than the F-4 Phantom II! It can also fly at an altitude of over 60,000 feet. What’s really cool is that this jet can almost climb to its maximum altitude in just one minute! From takeoff, it will take only one minute for the jet to reach 50,000 feet, which is amazing. In comparison, the commercial air planes that most people use to travel only fly at a speed of around 600 mph at an altitude of 40,000 feet.
This is a picture of Adventure Dog on top of the Army Air Corps emblem. The Army Air Corps was the predecessor of the present-day Air Force, which wasn’t formed until 1947.I hope you enjoy these pictures! Adventure Dog loved seeing the United States Central Command and MacDill Memorial Park, and we both had fun taking pictures with the planes! =)
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