Air-and-Space.com is a one man operation. My name is Brian Lockett. I take most of the pictures, write the captions, create the pages, and make all the arbitrary editorial decisions.
Please note: Air-and-Space.com is just my web site. It is strictly virtual. I have no brick and mortar air museum for people to visit. Air-and-Space.com is not affiliated with any other air museum, public or private. It's not nice to use my pictures on your web site without asking.*
Click on the images below to link to pages of photographs of air and space related subject matter:
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Balls Three: History of the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress Mothership |
I have just published Balls Three: The History of the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress Mothership, the sister volume to my book Balls Eight, which is about the NB-52B.
The NB-52A 52-0003 and its sister ship, the NB-52B 52-0008 were diverted to the special mission of launching the X-15 hypersonic research airplane in 1958 following their service as early test examples of the B-52 Stratofortress. While the two Stratofortresses were engaged in the task of launching the three X-15 rocket planes, a series of rocket powered lifting bodies were developed that utilized the existing air launch capability.The NB-52A was a flying launch pad, which is a highly complex task. It had to supply the rocket planes that it carried with the propellants, gases, and power normally associated with a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, all while flying nine miles above the ground. This ability made the airplane an indispensable asset for aeronautical research. Its right wing was reinforced and equipped with a pylon to carry the heaviest wing-borne payloads ever dropped from an airplane. Some of the payloads that it dropped exceeded 50,000 pounds, nearly 1/5 of its own weight.
The X-15 rocket planes launched by this Stratofortress carried pilots to unprecedented speeds and altitudes. They were the first winged vehicles to reach speeds of Mach-4, Mach-5, and Mach-6. They were also the first winged vehicles to exceed 130,000 feet altitude, eventually reaching over 364,000 feet, high above nearly all the Earth’s atmosphere. Five pilots qualified for astronaut’s wings by exceeding an altitude of fifty miles in the X-15s. Tragically, one of those astronauts was killed on his qualifying flight when the third X-15 broke up as it re-entered the atmosphere.
Later in the career of the NB-52A, the X-15s were joined by a trio of heavyweight lifting bodies. The Northrop M2-F2 and HL-10 and the Martin Marietta X-24A were wingless, rocket-powered research vehicles that evaluated potential configurations of future orbital spacecraft, concentrating on the later stages of re-entry and landing. They established the feasibility of gliding to a landing in a spacecraft with a low glide ratio, the method utilized by the Rockwell Space Shuttle.
It is 117 pages. It has 182 illustrations including 86 color photographs.
Put a copy of Balls Three: History of the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress Mothership in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $29.95.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Airshow
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Davis-Monthan Air Force Base hosted an airshow on March 16, 1975.
Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn
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The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21, 2020. Jupiter's moons are visible. Callisto, Europa, and Io are above Jupiter, Ganymede is below Jupiter. 400mm lens. f5.6, 1/60 second, 1000 ISO. 6:33 PM Mountain Time.
The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 22, 2020. 400mm lens. f5.6, 1/125 second, 2500 ISO. 6:27 PM Mountain Time.
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2021 Aviation and Airshow Calendars are ready |
LockettBooks CalendarsMy Calendars, Books, and DVDs are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you select one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. When you place your order, the items are produced, packaged, and shipped directly to you. Calendars are printed borderless in full color on 100# 8-1/2" x 11" stock. They are coil bound. |
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Aviation and Airshow
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Vintage Airplanes at Prescott, Arizona:
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Boeing Prototypes:
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Boeing Testbeds:
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Boeing B-29 Superforresss:
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Novelty Airline Liveries:
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State Flag Airline Liveries:
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Heritage Airline Liveries:
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Marine Life Airline Liveries:
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Air Freighters:
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McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornets of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels:
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Warthogs and Vipers at the Goldwater Range:
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US Navy and Marine Corps Airplanes at Naval Air Facility el Centro:
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Space Shuttle Discovery at Edwards Air Force Base:
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Shuttle Carrier Aircraft:
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Space Shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base:
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Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Flights:
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Antonov An-124 Ruslan:
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Antonov An-225 Mriya:
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Lockheed C-5 Galaxy:
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Giant Airplanes:
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Lockheed SR-71:
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Lockheed-Martin F/A-22A Raptors at Edwards Air Force Base:
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Stealth Bomber: Northrop-Grumman B-2A Spirit:
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Lockheed-Martin F-35 Lightning II:
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Balls Eight: Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress Mothership:
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Boeing B-52 Stratofortress:
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Boeing B-52G Stratofortresses of the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base:
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Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter/Stratotanker:
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Douglas DC-2 NC1934D:
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Douglas DC-3 Variants:
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Spruce Goose:
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Martin JRM Hawaii Mars at Lake Elsinore:
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Lockheed P-38 Lightnings:
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Curtiss SB2C Helldiver:
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North American B-25J Mitchell, N30801 Executive Sweet:
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North American T-28 Trojans:
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Corsairs with Four-bank Radials:
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Flying Fortress Nine-O-Nine, Liberator Witchcraft, and Mitchell Tondelayo:
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Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress Fuddy Duddy:
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Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress Aluminum Overcast:
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Day Fire Tankers at Santa Barbara:
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Firefighting Helicopters:
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Aerial Tankers:
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Firefighting Aircraft of CAL FIRE:
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Vintage and Veteran TWA Airliners:
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Vintage Airplanes at Valle Arizona:
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Vintage Airplanes at Chino:
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Vintage Airplanes at Camarillo, California:
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Rocket Launches From Vandenberg Air Force Base:
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Project FICON - Fighter Conveyer:
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Wing Tip Coupling:
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See all the pictures in each aviation and airshow 2021 Calendar. |
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2021 Natural History and Special Subjects Calendars are ready |
LockettBooks CalendarsMy Calendars, Books, and DVDs are printed on demand by Lulu.com. When you select one, it is placed in your Lulu.com shopping cart. When you place your order, the items are produced, packaged, and shipped directly to you. Calendars are printed borderless in full color on 100# 8-1/2" x 11" stock. They are coil bound. |
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Natural History and Special Subjects
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Steam Locomotives:
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Union Pacific Steam Locomotive 844 in Arizona:
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Union Pacific Big Boy Steam Locomotive 4014 in Arizona:
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Mojave Desert:
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Antelope Valley Wildflowers:
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California Wildflowers:
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Fall Color:
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Mogollon Rim Fall Color:
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Saline and Panamint Valleys:
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Inyo County Mountains:
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California High Desert:
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California Basin and Range:
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Antarctic Landscapes:
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Penguins:
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Antarctic Seals:
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Birds of the South Atlantic and Antarctica:
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Lightning:
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Phases of the Moon:
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Hummingbirds:
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Fire Clouds:
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Bryce Canyon:
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Wide Open Spaces of Arizona:
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Wide Open Spaces of Northern Arizona:
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Wide Open Spaces of California:
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Santa Barbara and Goleta:
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Little Planets:
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Space Shuttles |
I have reprocessed my Space Shuttle photos and prepared a display for each orbiter.
Space Shuttle Enterprise OV-101 was used for five test flights of the last phases of the approach to landing at Edwards Air Force Base from August 12, 1977 to October 26, 1977. It was often displayed at the Edwards Air Force Base open house in the early 1980s. It is now on display at the Intrepid Museum, New York City.
Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102 was the first operational orbiter. It was delivered to NASA from Edwards Air Force Base on March 20, 1979. Its first mision was STS-1 which took off on April 12, 1981 from the Kennedy Space Center and landed on April 14, 1981 at Edwards Air Force Base. It conducted 27 successful mission before it broke up during re-entry at the conclusion of STS-107 on February 1, 2003.
Space Shuttle Challenger OV-099 was the second operational orbiter. It began as a structural test article before being converted to a fligh vehicle. It was delivered to NASA from Edwards Air Force Base on July 4, 1982. Its first mision was STS-6 which took off on April 4, 1983 from the Kennedy Space Center and landed on April 9, 1983 at Edwards Air Force Base. It conducted nine successful mission before it was destroyed in an explosion during launch of STS-51-L on January 28, 1986.
Space Shuttle Discovery OV-103 was the third operational orbiter. It flew 39 missions. It was delivered to NASA from Edwards Air Force Base on Noember 9, 1984. Its first mision was STS-41-D which took off on August 30, 1984 from the Kennedy Space Center and landed on September 5, 1984 at Edwards Air Force Base. Its final mission was STS-133 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on February 24, 2011 and landed at the Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 2011. It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Space Shuttle Atlantis OV-104 was the fourth operational orbiter. It flew 33 missions. It was delivered to NASA from Edwards Air Force Base on Noember 9, 1984. Its first flight was STS-51-J which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on October 3, 1985 and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on October 7, 1985. Its final mission was STS-135 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 8, 2011 and landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. It was the final Space Shuttle mission. It is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center.
Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 was the fifth operational orbiter, built to replace Challenger OV-099. It flew 25 missions. It was delivered to NASA from Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale on May 2, 1991. Its first flight was STS-49 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on October 3, 1985 and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on May 13, 1992. Its final mission was STS-134 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 16, 2011 and landed at the Kennedy Space Center on June 1, 2011. It is now on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
Space Shuttle Buran was the Soviet conmpetitor to the North American Rockwell Space Shuttles. It made one unmanned orbital flight on November 15, 1988. It was displayed at the Paris Airshow in June 1989 mounted on the back of the Antonov An-225 Mriya. It was destroyed when the building it was stored in collapsed.
Lockheed Blackbirds A-12, YF-12, SR-71, D-21 |
I have reprocessed all of the image files on the Lockheed Blackbirds A-12, YF-12, SR-71, D-21 display to provide improved color balance and higher resoliion.
Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0050 of the 412th Test Wing |
Boeing B-52H Stratofortress 60-0050 has existed for more than half of the history of airplanes. It has been assigned to the 412th Test Wing based a Edwards Air Force Base for decades. It has performed at the Edwards Air Force Base Open House on many occasions. A couple of decades ago it was named Dragons Inferno.
VC-25A at Phoenix Sky Harbor
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President Trump arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor aboard Boeing VC-25A 82-8000 on May 5, 2020. He visited the Honeywell plant on the north side of the airport to inspect the production of personal protection equipment.
Pre-production McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagles |
The Pre-production McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagles page has been updated with picture of the first two-seat Eagle 71-0290. It was originally designated TF-15A, then F-15B. It was modified with canards and rectangular two-dimensional vectored thrust nozzles to pariticpate in Activbe Eagle as the Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) Maneuvering Technology Demonstrator (MTD) and redesignated NF-15B. It was assigned to NASA and equipped with axisymmetric vectored thrust nozzles for the Advanced Control Technology for Integrated VEhicles (ACTIVE) program and then Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS).
Space Shuttle Atlantis OV-104 |
Space Shuttle Atlantis OV-104 was the fourth operational orbiter. Its first flight was STS-51-J which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on October 3, 1985 and landed at Edwards Air Force Base on October 7, 1985. It flew 33 missions. Its final mission was STS-135 which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 8, 2011 and landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. It was the final Space Shuttle mission. It is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center.
Space Shuttle Challenger Ov-099 |
Space Shuttle Challenger Ov-099 was the second operational orbiter. It began as a structural test article before being converted to a fligh vehicle. It was delivered to NASA from Edwards Air Force Base on July 4, 1982. Its first mision was STS-6 which took off on April 4, 1983 from the Kennedy Space Center and landed on April 9, 1983 at Edwards Air Force Base. It conducted nine successful mission before it was destroyed in an explosion during launch of STS-51-L on January 28, 1986.
Air Traffic at Sky Harbor
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I visited Sky Harbor on Sunday, March 15, 2020 to photograph Alaska's Boeing 737-990 N318AS Duisneyand and United's Boeing 737-824 N36272 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Antonov Design Bureau An-124-100M UR82009 at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Arizona
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Antonov Design Bureau An-124-100M UR82009 visited Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Arizona on March 9, 2020.
Air Traffic at Sky Harbor
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I visited Sky Harbor on Thursday, January 30, 2020 to photograph the arrival of United's Boeing 737-824 N36272 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arriving from San Francisco. I also caught a couple of Southwest Boeing 737s, Frontier's A320 Poppy the Prairie Dog, a Fedex Express A300, and a JSX Emberaer EMB-135LR.
The most recent additions to displays of the museum are listed on the New Displays Page.
I am now a beta tester for the Gigapan robotic camera mount. It automates the process of capturing multiple images to assemble into a panorama. My earlier panoaramas were typically composed of 24 pictures and contained about 70 megapixels. Now I am producing panoramas assembled from over 500 images and containing over two billion pixels. My Gigapan ID is GoletaBrian.
My photographs can also be seen in other internet galleries.
Use Google to search Air-and-Space.com for my pictures of your favorite airplane.
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Prints of Air-and-Space.com Photographs |
Many of the photographs that appear on the displays of Air-and-Space.com are now available as rolled prints, framed prints, gallery wrapped canvas prints, and greeting cards. Check out my gallery of airplane phtograaphs.
Whereever you see a picture like this one:
You can buy framed prints or greeting cards of this photograph.
Click on it to link to the order page for that photograph.
Select from thousands of frames, mats, and wrap combinations and receive your fine art prints within one week!
Greeting cards are 5 inches by 7 inches and can be imprinted with your message.
If you are interested in acquiring prints of any of my photos that you see displayed on Air-and-Space.com, I encourage you to contact me, and I will add it to the selections available at Fine Art America.
LockettBooks CalendarsLockettBooks publishes calendars featuring Brian Lockett's photographs. Regular calendars are printed in full color on 100# 8-1/2" x 11" stock. They are coil bound and sell for $14.95. |
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Aviation and Airshow
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Novelty Airline Liveries:
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State Flag Airline Liveries:
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Heritage Airline Liveries:
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Marine Life Airline Liveries:
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Air Freighters:
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Boeing Prototypes:
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Boeing Testbeds:
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Boeing B-29 Superforresss:
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I have many more aviation and airshow 2021 calendars. |
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Natural History and Special Subjects 2021 Calendars |
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Union Pacific Steam Locomotive 844 in Arizona:
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Lightning:
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Phases of the Moon:
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Mojave Desert:
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I have many more natural history and special subject
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You can see all of my calendars and books at my Lulu.com Lockett Books storefront.
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Follow @BrianLockett on Twitter for updates on the releases of my new calendars, books, and prints. Watch for coupon codes for special savings on my books and calendars at Lulu.com.
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*All content included on Air-and-Space.com, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips and software, is the property of Air-and-Space.com and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. The compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly) of all content on this site is the exclusive property of Air-and-Space.com and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.
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