Tour Pearl Harbor’s outdoor fighter exhibits with Sandboxx’s resident AirPower nerd Alex Hollings

Ever wondered what it would be like to tour an aviation museum with Sandboxx News Editor-in-Chief and resident AirPower nerd, Alex Hollings? Well, wonder no longer – because we’ve compiled a group of short videos recorded by Hollings while touring outdoor fighter displays in Hawaii during a recent trip.

To learn more about why Hollings would travel to Hawaii for these interviews, you can watch this video:

Last week, we traveled out to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on the island of Oahu in Hawaii to conduct a series of interviews, including one with General Kevin Schneider and Command Chief Master Sergeant Katie McCool from the U.S. Pacific Air Forces command (that will be released soon).

But before departing the island, we had to make a stop at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum on base.

This non-profit museum has a ton of great exhibits to see, but in keeping with Hollings’ affinity for Cold War aircraft, he was immediately drawn to the jet fighters lined up outside the museum’s hangars.

The first fighter to score an air-to-air missile kill: North American F-86 Sabre

The first stop on this fighter tour was none other than the North American F-86 Sabre, which happened to be the first type of fighter aircraft in history to successfully down an enemy aircraft with a guided air-to-air missile.

What really caused the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II to struggle over Vietnam?

Up next was the incredibly capable McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which saw service for the U.S. Navy and Air Force between 1960 and 1996.

These supersonic fighters were incredibly capable interceptors but struggled in the skies over Vietnam, often being downed by much more dated Soviet-sourced MiGs. While many attribute these issues to a lack of guns on the fighter that wasn’t exactly the case.

Related: How the Vietnam War changed the Navy SEALs forever

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat’s fatal flaw

The F-14 Tomcat may be one of the most capable fighters of its era, but it certainly had its drawbacks. Chief among those shortcomings had to be the original F-14A’s troublesome TF-30 turbofan engines that weren’t designed for fighter applications, and that single issue led to the loss of many Naval aviators (as well as Goose in the fictional blockbuster, Top Gun.

How to easily tell the difference between a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet and Boeing’s newer Super Hornet

The U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet may look a lot like its Hornet precursor, but one could argue that it was actually an entirely new fighter design that simply borrowed its name (and some prominent design cues) from the original.

Here’s how you can quickly and easily discern between the original Hornet and the newer Super Hornet, even from a distance:

Related: Why does the Navy’s new stealth fight have the ‘F/A’ prefix like a Super Hornet?

The jet that could keep up with an SR-71 Blackbird: The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark 

The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was actually powered by the same TF-30 turbofan engines that caused problems for the more aerobatic F-14, but in the Aardvark, these powerful engines were entirely in their element.

With reports of these aircraft reaching speeds as high as Mach 3.2 in shakedown flights, the Aardvark was actually among the fastest combat aircraft in the sky.

And a Virginia-class attack sub that popped up for good measure!

Not long after Hollings left the flight line on Pearl Harbor-Hickam, a Virginia-class attack submarine surfaced nearby. These fast-attack subs are widely considered to be among the healthiest warships ever to set sail, and are absolutely massive to come across in person!

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