Palmdale - Joe Davies Heritage Air Park & Blackbird Airpark
Situated at the south of USAF Plant 42 Palmdale Airport, home of Lockheed Martin and NASA Armstrong Research Centre, it should be no surprise that Joe Davies Heritge Airpark houses several test and experimental aircraft. The greatest eye catcher is the Boeing 747-100 SCA, one of the two jumbo jets used for carrying the Space Shuttle. Several other highlights are the X-55A ACCA, which is a highly modified Dornier 328, and the mighty B-52 Stratofortress. The collection is kept in great shape, and although this museum is not that big, it has a decent variety of aircraft. One aspect we liked about this airpark is the spacy and natural way it is build up.
Palmdale Airport itself can see some highly interesting movements such as the NASA fleet and various aircraft from Edwards AFB. As the Airpark is located south of the airbase movements can be seen as well.
Next to Joe Davies Heritage Airpark lies Blackbird Airpark. Please be aware that these are two separate parks and have different owners and thus opening times. Blackbird Airpark is owned by the Edwards Flight Test Museum and houses and A-12, SR-71 and a rare short-nosed U-2 Dragonfly. Besides three aircraft the museum has a great collection of Blackbird relics like a wind tunnel test scale model of the SR-71 and the pilot flight suit.
Both airparks have no entrance fee and are highly recommended.