Boeing X-32B STOVL at Patuxent River (my own photo)
Posted by richard7k@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 70 comments
Seen at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum (Maryland) in February 2026. The X-32 was Boeing's contender for the DARPA joint strike fighter project, and competed with the Lockheed Martin X-35. The X-32B in particular had STOVL installed (for the Navy and Marine Corps) and began testing in 2001, while the X-32A was meant for the U.S. Air Force and did not have STOVL. After the Pentagon chose the X-35 to be mass-produced as the F-35, the X-32s both went to museums, and the X-32B has been displayed at Patuxent River since 2005.
GunnerGregory@reddit
So, rather than comment on multiple threads, I would like to comment once.
I'm the former Curator of a maritime museum (five years) and was the Director of Operations at the same museum for another three years...
I have also toured naval and naval air museums around the world.
Pax River does a REALLY GOOD job of preserving the maximum number of airframes in the best possible conditions they can.
They would love to build more enclosed, hurricane proof, storage and display space. Hurricane proof being the important aspect, because Pax River DOES get hurricanes. Outside, the airframes are, unfortunately, subject to weathering, but they can be maintained. When severe weather threatens, aircraft can have additional chains added (and some can be moved, temporarily inside - they just can't be properly displayed inside). They just had a major capital improvement campaign to build better storage and display areas...)
(I am no longer working or volunteering in the naval/maritime museum world, so I have no dog in this fight...)
iceyconditions@reddit
Pax river hasn't been affected by a hurricane for almost 50 years...
Reddragon0585@reddit
But it can happen
iceyconditions@reddit
The statement was "Pax river does get hurricanes"
That is incorrect
GunnerGregory@reddit
Fair point.
richard7k@reddit (OP)
Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge here. I wonder what timeline the museum has in mind but I am looking forward to seeing them make progress on their facilities.
Unusual_Specialist@reddit
I despise museums that put amazing aircraft outside. Bring her in!
Blondie-Gringo@reddit
I really don't understand why they would leave such a rare and unique aircraft outside. Send it to a museum that cares about it. There a quite a few that would love to have it amd keep it indoors.
KfirGuy@reddit
The same Valiant Air Command that has scores of aircraft outside in the brutal Florida sun and rain left looking like this?
It’s a great museum, but they have just as many aircraft rotting outside as they do stored nicely inside…
Blondie-Gringo@reddit
They do not have anywhere near as many planes outside as they do inside. The ones outside aren't rare and some of them are new to the collection and awaiting restoration. The only rare/cool plane that I recall is outside is the EE Canberra. Which is understandable because it's huge. The MIG-21, S2 Tracker, A6 Intuder, and Mohawk aren't the majority of the collection or rarest. The XP-82, ME-208, F5E-SSBD, Tico Bell and long list of naval fighters are well taken care of, some of which are airworthy. Any X plane would be cared for, I guarantee it. I am a member of the Valiant Air Command.
KfirGuy@reddit
The F-5 SSBD was very much outside when I was there a few months back, and was exactly what I was thinking about in terms of rare aircraft preserved outside.
VAC is an awesome museum, I loved my time there. But they have a 1 of a kind aircraft sitting outside just like Pax River does. Every museum does the best they can with the assets they have.
Maybe the day I was there they had pushed a lot more aircraft outside or something, I’m not trying to take shots at the VAC as they have an awesome collection, including a recent arrival that was an absolute highlight of the day for me and was preserved beautifully, but I recall a MiG-17, 21, SSBD, NASA Lear, T-34, T-2, F-105, F-100, F-101, F-8, H-19, and S-2 all being outside.
Blondie-Gringo@reddit
They regularly push most of them outside when the weather is nice on the weekends, for fly-ins and shows. They do not leave them outside. The F-5 SSBD is stored inside and doesn't look like it's been left outside. The ones I listed are left outside and look like it. The guys that restore them, maintain them a give tours try really hard to give the public the best experience possible. They do a better job than a lot of places. They rearrange them regularly and are not roped off. They are privately funded, I give the VAC credit for how well they care for their planes. I've never had a bad time there or thought they were neglecting planes.
KfirGuy@reddit
Ahhhhhhh OK, they had some sort of Cub fly in going on that day, so that explains it. I figured they were all just normal outside like that - I apologize for the mixup. That was my first and only visit so far 😅
Obligatory photo of my favorite bird in the collection to atone!
LightningGeek@reddit
I used to volunteer at a museum in the UK and the sad fact is, the choice is often between a museum displaying an aircraft outside, or for it to go for scrap. And that even includes rare and one off aircraft.
This all played out at Bruntingthorpe in the UK a few years back. What was once the premier site for the preservation of UK Cold War aircraft, was bought and became yet another car storage site. 6 Tristars, 2 VC-10's and one only 5 Super Guppies ever built (F-BTGV), were scrapped after the airfield was sold. They were given barely enough time to even have a chance of moving them, although the owner of one of the running VC-10's gave a huge fight to try and save it, even trying to get a one off exception to have it flown to another museum, and a court case, to try and save it.
It might look sad, but being stored outside is still infinitely better than having the rug pulled and having it melted down.
Kardinal@reddit
I usually agree with you.
But in Tucson where the weather is so dry, they can make available airplanes that would otherwise be unavailable to the public. So many planes outdoors!
TabsAZ@reddit
The sun damage on some of them at Pima is really bad tho.
Kardinal@reddit
True. But the alternative is that no one gets to see them at all. It's just so cost efficient to keep them out there.
viperfan7@reddit
Or can cover them so they're in shade
coopnjaxdad@reddit
I love this ugly little plane. Would have like to see this go a few more rounds with the F35.
Poker-Junk@reddit
Hell of a design, Boeing, but I mean………..really?
TheManWhoClicks@reddit
It always feels like this was just done by Boeing to make it look like this was a fair competition between the two but the JSF program was Lockheed’s game from the beginning. The optics of this one as the new face of the Air Force…
SadPhase2589@reddit
It would have looked cooler than the F-35 had it been chose.
JDDavisTX@reddit
Then why didn’t they make it look like that? And the fact it couldn’t perform.
SadPhase2589@reddit
I didn’t work there at the time. I was a SrA in the USAF.
Pitiful_Eye_3295@reddit
There's so many great angles on the X-32. Those renders are fantastic. I wish I could get over the air intake.
Pitiful_Eye_3295@reddit
I like certain aspects but that mouth on the F-35 just ruins it, imo. It looks like a pelican with it's mouth full. And I love the look of the F-8, btw.
JDDavisTX@reddit
You mean, the X-32
DESTRUCTI0NAT0R@reddit
Stealth F-86 Sabre
flapsmcgee@reddit
According to Boeing*
SadPhase2589@reddit
Sue me.
mulvda@reddit
I really need to track down and save all of this artists renders. So talented.
BigmacSasquatch@reddit
TetronautGaming@reddit
Left outside without protection, so sad
ZoidsFanatic@reddit
Well, it certainly doesn’t think so. Look how happy it is!
pesca_22@reddit
it put a nice face but its hurting inside
Poagie_Mahoney@reddit
The WeirdWings equivalent of "Hide the Pain Harold"
DeficiencyOfGravitas@reddit
Nothing to HUEHUEHUE about anymore :(
cvnh@reddit
Right? It deserves better treatment!
LoserBroadside@reddit
It’s goofy looking, but I thought the way it handled switching between regular thrust and VTOL was much more interesting than the X 35 solution.
LordofSpheres@reddit
How do you mean? It was mostly just the Harrier's solution done over again, with a slightly more advanced front nozzle to create a "cold gas screen" to prevent pop starts that didn't work. I'm not knocking you, I'm just curious how that's more interesting than the clutched lift fan to you.
Sixshot_@reddit
Note of course that the F-35 does the same cold air dam trick to solve HGI... just with the lift fan instead.
LordofSpheres@reddit
Different trick - X-32 was using bleed air, and much, much less air overall, plus with much less separation between hot exhaust and the intake.
The fundamental difference in the trick is that the X-35's version worked.
DeltaV-Mzero@reddit
I tend to agree, the X-32 STOVL was an evolution of existing tech while the X-35’s was one of the most complicated contraptions mankind had ever produced
JDDavisTX@reddit
And it didn’t perform. They stripped off doors and non-essential items to try to get it off the ground in VTOL.
FreeDwooD@reddit
:D
WildeWeasel@reddit
Good thing the chocks are there so it won't roll away.
Viharabiliben@reddit
Left outside so that our adversaries the Chinese and Russians can make detailed inspections of it.
ElkeKerman@reddit
China does not care about this lol
WotTheFook@reddit
With a shark's mouth painted on the intake, like they used to paint on WW2 fighters, that would have looked really cool.
Ragnarok_Stravius@reddit
The Basking Shark.
alpacaMyToothbrush@reddit
How great would it have been if I'd been just astoundingly good at it's job in spite of it's looks? Think about the A10. Subjectively, it's an ugly aircraft, but holy shit was it good at what it does. It's a shining example that competence > *
an_older_meme@reddit
The Boeing X-32B, NATO reporting name Freakazoid, nickname The Flying Potato.
Virtual_Ad_9382@reddit
I thought it was nicknamed ‘Monica’ after Monica Lewinsky…
JDDavisTX@reddit
It was. Widely known as the Monica
Fine_Town_5840@reddit
The other X-32 has been nicely restored and is on display next the the YF-23 at the NMUSAF in Dayton Ohio.
mulvda@reddit
Nobody will ever get me to not like this jet. Especially renders of what it could have been. Hanger Bs in particular give big F-86 vibes
NoDoze-@reddit
I see some similarities there...
CyberSoldat21@reddit
Happy plane still
teddyc88@reddit
Thanks for sharing this, you can feel the engineering expertise that went into this one. Would love to see it get some shelter though.
WheelspinAficionado@reddit
WhisenPeppler@reddit
One of my favorite airplanes.
Fluffy_Muffins_415@reddit
The happiest plane I've ever seen!
Flucloxacillin25pc@reddit
It doesn’t look too happy at the moment. It’s in a bad state.
Flucloxacillin25pc@reddit
SHe’slooking a little sad compared to the photo I posted some months ago. Considering her unique place in U.S. aviation history, she has to be moved to an indoor site somewhere so that she can be properly restored.
Looks like Pax River is no longer a safe place for historic aircraft.
DarthBrooks69420@reddit
It wasn't selected because the required jet fuel that makes you say 'real' ended up being cost prohibitive.
Far_Performance_4013@reddit
You should see the size of its ventolin inhaler
transtector@reddit
That's a cool little museum for sure. It is unfortunate that those classics are left outside in the elements though. When I was there last Summer there was a big ass snake just having a chill under the F14
Flight444@reddit
If you haven’t seen the Nova documentary about this VS the X-35 you really should watch it. We will never get to see that sort of process again.
eddyb66@reddit
Man that's really looking run down, send it somewhere else.
Old_Wallaby_7461@reddit
:D