Hill Aerospace Musuem - Utah

April 2019 - photos by Eric

Driving on Interstate 15, north of Salt Lake City Utah at 80 mph, it is easy to miss the sign for the Hill Aerospace Museum. In the spring of 2019, I stopped and toured the indoor and outdoor area of the museum.

The planes cannot be seen from the freeway, so it can be easily missed and forgotten.

The Hill Aerospace Museum contains 30 acres of aviation history, that is another must see. It seems like I say that about everywhere I visit...oh well. The main building contains many aircraft that were used during the Vietnam War. Larger airplanes, including a B52 Bomber fill a large area outside.

"Mail from Home", is a lifesize bronze of an Air Force pilot, that greets you as you arrive at the museum.

Like many of us, I have always been interested in airplanes. Within the past few years I have read from the memoir of Forrest Fenn, "The Thrill of the Chase", about how he flew the F-100 during the Vietnam War.

For those not familiar with Forrest Fenn, his memoir has a chapter dedicated to his experience during the Vietnam War. The chapter titled, "My War for Me", I find to be the most interesting.

This article is not intended to be about Forrest Fenn, but many of the aircraft in the main hanger, were described in the memoir and help bring his stories to life. For example, below is a photo of a super Jolly rescue helicopter, displaying the heavy jungle penetrator that was lowered by a cable, for rescues. So was the case, when Forrest had been shot down in Laos. He described how two "Jolly Green Giant" helicopters came to his rescue. The pick-up chopper was named the Candy Ann, and lowered the jungle penetrator into the dense jungle to rescue him.

You will find over 90 military aircraft from all era's; from the F-16A Fighting Falcon to the B-1B Lancer bomber. They also display an assortment of munitions and military vehicles and many other historical artifacts, to numerous to mention.

Admission is free, and you can find more information on their website at aerospaceutah.org M39A3 20mm Revolving Cannon