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Arnold AR-5 Hiller Museum San Carlos, CA

swjohnsey

Well Known Member
I want to make a trip to the Hiller Museum in San Carlos, CA mostly to see the Arnold AR-5. I am flying commercial into San Jose going to a wedding (wife's thing) but will have a week to see stuff in the area like the Winchester House. Any insight would be appreciated. I will be staying a couple of day in San Jose and then at Travis AFB. I have a rental car for the week.
 
Other highlights of the museum include the Boeing Condor UAV (an absolutely massive airplane that used to hold records for altitude and endurance, and might still be the highest-flying piston-powered airplane... link, link) and NASA's AD-1 oblique wing experimental airplane (link, link).

On your way there on the 101, you will pass Moffett Field and NASA Ames, home to the world's largest wind tunnel, and there are some interesting airplanes by the gate.

Sacramento and Oakland also have nice air museums, if you'd be up for a more circuitous drive from San Jose to Travis.
 
I've spent some time at Moffett. Got stranded there on a SpaceA flight when the Navy C20 ingested some pigeon into the right engine. Camped out a few nights in the abandoned NCO club.
 
I enjoyed my trip to the museum, also motivated by the presence of the AR-5. Unfortunately, the airplane is hung from the ceiling which prevents close inspection of anything but the wheel pants.
Stewart Willoughby, 6 final assembly
 
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AR6

The AR6 was involved in a ground collision at the start of a race at Reno. I don't remember the date or whether it raced again. Damage was subsstantial but repairable.
 
I want to make a trip to the Hiller Museum in San Carlos, CA mostly to see the Arnold AR-5. I am flying commercial into San Jose going to a wedding (wife's thing) but will have a week to see stuff in the area like the Winchester House. Any insight would be appreciated. I will be staying a couple of day in San Jose and then at Travis AFB. I have a rental car for the week.

Other things in San Francisco:
Cable cars (very touristy)
Pier 39 area (sort of touristy, lots of nice restaurants) WWII liberty ship. Boat cruises to or around Alcatraz and or other parts of the bay.
Half Moon Bay, anywhere west of San Francisco: nice, quiet (by Gulf coast standards) beaches. Of course the water is cold, few adults swim without a wet suit.
Just north of the Golden gate bridge: cold war era Nike missile site (now a park) with great views back towards the city.
Further north on hwy 1 there are some giant redwood groves (but they are very popular - might need a parking reservation).
Near Travis: Napa valley, if wine tasting is of interest. Best to avoid weekends.
 
Been to some of that. The Alcatraz tour was one of the best I've ever been on. Anyone been to Bohemia Grove? Went past the headquarter of the Bohemia Society in San Francisco.
 
WWII submarine

It has been years but the WWII submarine on pier 39 was a great tour. Our Alcatraz was extra good as the tour guide though really new to the job had the experience of having been a guard when he was very young. Said he shouldn’t have been allowed to be a guard at his young age but got drafted for Korea and managed to escape Alcatraz. Told great first person stories but no way you could get him.
 
Also at the Hiller Museum...

A number of fun things I was lucky to be involved with. The SWIFT foot-launched sailplane was hanging in the lobby the last time I went. In addition to the AD-1, there are a number of other oblique-wing exhibits. Some of RT Jones' radio control models, and several wind tunnel models that both my Dad and I tested at various times. The keepers of the flame of oblique wing technology is a shrinking club. There are only a few of us left.

There is also one of the Hummingbird self-launch sailplanes built by Richard Pearl. IIRC, he even made the engine. The glider itself looks like a scaled-down SGS 2-32.
 
Endeavor AR6

The AR6 was involved in a ground collision at the start of a race at Reno. I don't remember the date or whether it raced again. Damage was subsstantial but repairable.

The accident was in 2016. Endeavor was indeed repaired and flown the following year as well as every year since.

Skylor
 
I made it to the Hiller Museum and saw the AR-5. It was a very low key display, aircraft hanging from ceiling above a mezzanine. There was a small plaque shared with another aircraft. I found the Rotax 582 engine down stairs. Pretty sure it was out of the AR-5 because the exhaust was wrapped.
 
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